The Bird Healer
by tigress33
Summary: Warren flew away to escape. She couldn't escape her ability or her past though she tried. She didn't want someone to enter her life, love was the last thing she thought she needed, but he was never one to listen. AngelOC
1. Chapter 1

It was painfully bright. The sun's rays hit the white pages of her novel, sending a blinding glare into her eyes that inhibited her from reading about how the mage was going to use the dragon's powers to save the kingdom. Important stuff. With a frustrated sigh, Thea moved from her seat by the outdoor fountain to a bench in the shade of some oak trees. She liked reading outside where the noise from children playing in the backyard of Xavier's School for the Gifted was in the background.

With the funeral services for Professor X just a few days ago, the school was still rather quiet because the children didn't know if it was appropriate to laugh and play when their headmaster was gone. Ororo Munroe, the new headmaster, had assured the children that it was alright to do normal things, but the noises Thea heard were hampered by sadness.

Regardless, Thea welcomed this little bit of time to be swept up in her fantasy novel when her real life was chaotic. She loved fantasy stories because she was able to delve into a world where being different often meant you would save the world rather than hide in it.

She felt the other side of the bench creak with the addition of another person and internally groaned with annoyance at the interruption. The only redeeming fact was that the intruder was her closest friend.

"So there's a new guy here," Kitty Pryde said in a gossipy voice.

Thea closed the book, knowing Kitty would not be happy until she divulged all the info she knew about this new guy. Kitty had been feeling quite homesick, and Professor X's death hit her very hard too. Looking at her friend, Thea noticed Kitty's demeanor had brightened.

So, Thea was glad to see her friend excited about something. Plus, Thea was mildly intrigued because Kitty has said "guy" rather than "kid," meaning this new person must have been older than say…eighteen. Granted Thea was not interested in dating and granted eighteen was a bit young for her, but some new eye candy would always be welcomed.

"Who is he?" Thea asked.

"All I could catch it that his name is Warren. Thea, he's so gorgeous! Blond hair, nice face, great body…well, I imagine he has a great body. He was wearing a tan trench coat, so I couldn't see. But he just reeked of sexy," Kitty said happily.

"Reeked of sexy?" Thea repeated amusedly with a large amount of skepticism in her voice.

"Okay, so that sounded weird. But it's true."

"What's his thing?" Thea asked.

Kitty's face lit up at her friend's interest. She leaned towards Thea, and Thea leaned towards Kitty as well.

"Wings," Kitty whispered.

Thea's right eyebrow quirked as it always did when something struck her as interesting.

"Wings? Like bat wings or bird wings or flying squirrel wings?"

Kitty giggled. "Bird wings," Kitty replied, her eyes bright.

Thea sat back against her bench so that to any onlookers, it no longer appeared like she and Kitty were about to make out. While bat wings would have been gross and flying squirrel wings most unfortunate, bird wings were…intriguing.

"How big are they?" Thea asked.

Kitty shrugged. "I don't know, but big enough for him to fly. That's how he got here, he _flew_."

"I wonder what from," Thea mumbled to herself.

"You should ask him that," Kitty encouraged not too subtly.

Thea humored Kitty with an amused grin. "You are not setting me up with him before I even know what color his wings are," Thea jested.

Kitty laughed heartily, and Thea resumed reading her book since she thought the gossip was over.

"White," Kitty said.

"Huh?"

"His wings are white. Saw a bit under the coat when he was walking. So, now can I set you two up?" Kitty asked conspiratorially.

Thea laughed and shook her head. "Too bad they aren't black. That would have 'reeked of sexy'."

Kitty giggled and punched Thea lightly in the shoulder for making fun of her yet again.

* * *

"Here's your room. I'm sorry it's so small," Ororo Munroe, better known as Storm, said, leading Warren Worthington III into his accommodations.

Warren looked around the room. The walls were a warm cream color and the curtains to the window were a rich blue. There was a full sized bed, a small wooden desk, a lamp, a chair, and a chest of drawers. It was quite different from his luxury apartment in San Francisco that had his bedroom, a study room, a guest room, a full kitchen, and a spacious living room. But that life was over.

"It's fine," he replied with a small smile at the woman with snow white hair. He was finally used to the hair. In the past hour of walking around the mansion, he observed more weird things than he had imagined. There was a kid with a lizard tongue, a girl who ran through walls, and oh, let's not forget the kid who could walk on water. Then again, none of them had wings sprouting out from their back. So, honestly, who was the weird one?

"You're welcomed to stay here as long as you like. The kitchen is down stairs, the lounges are down there as well, bathroom is down the hall to the right…" Storm trailed off as she looked around uncomfortably.

"Great."

"Anything else I can do?" Storm asked.

"No, no, this is…great. Thanks. I appreciate it. Especially, you know, my father…" Warren said, fidgeting under Storm's gaze.

Storm's eyes darkened and swirled for just a moment before she collected herself. "Your father is not very supportive of mutants, but that does not mean we would deny you our help. You aren't him. You proved that today."

Warren smiled sheepishly. "Thanks."

"I'm assuming you won't need to take classes?"

Warren shook his head. "Graduated from college last year. Economics major."

Storm's demeanor brightened. "Would you be interested in teaching economics to some of the older students? We're so understaffed at the moment. We've had so many…losses."

"Uh…"

"I'm so sorry. You've only just arrived and I'm bombarding you with questions about teaching. That was inappropriate of me," Storm said, slowly stepping out of the room.

"That's alright. I just…I didn't expect that. But let me sleep on it."

"Absolutely. You must be tired. If you need anything, you can ask the older students or one of the professors."

"Thanks."

Storm smiled and left Warren's room, closing the door behind her.

Warren dropped his black leather bag unceremoniously on the ground and took off his trench coat. He extended his wings delicately to their full span. He sat down on the edge of the bed and rotated his sore and tense shoulders. Inhaling deeply, he tried to calm his body after the day's events. What had he done? Turned away from his father, decided to keep his wings, jumped out of a window, flew back home to grab some clothes and money, flew across the country to the only mutant sanctuary he knew of, and now was sitting in his new room. And all before six o'clock in the evening.

Exhaling, he fluffed his pillows and flopped onto his stomach, falling asleep immediately.

* * *

Thea walked into the TV room munching on a turkey sandwich, and Jubilee shifted over on the couch to make room for her.

"Jones! Go back, go back! I want to see that story about the guy jumping out of the window," Jubilee said, annoyed at the younger mutant's incessant changing of the television stations with his blinking.

"Sorry," Jones replied, blinking to go back to the late night news story Jubilee wanted to watch.

_"…of the window, swooping down towards the crowd of mutants waiting in line for the cure, with his wings fully extended. When asked to comment about his son's behavior, Dr. Worthington declined to speak to the media."_ The image was first of a mutant bursting through a window and then of a distressed looking Dr. Worthington. Thea cringed and averted her eyes at the mere sight of that bastard. That new Warren guy was his son?

The newscaster went on to other stories.

"Wow!" Jubilee said admiringly. "That was amazing."

"Flashy," Thea commented with a bit of disdain, tucking some of her dark purple hair behind her ear. Warren the winged-dude had a flare for the dramatic.

"You would think that," Jubilee mumbled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Thea snapped.

Jubilee and Thea were not friends though they did not hate each other nor spread bad things about each other. And although they were usually respectful of one another, occasionally they got into fights that Jubilee would always start and Thea would never walk away from. Thea respected Jubilee's ability to be cheerful when the younger girl had lost her parents tragically and had been a runaway before coming to Xavier's School, but that was the extent of Thea's positive thoughts regarding Jubilee. Jubilee often got swept up in the glamour of things, perhaps it was a result of being raised in Beverly Hills, and that kind of bubbly excitement over such superficial matters grated on Thea's nerves.

Others said the indifference between the two young women was because Jubilee and Thea were exact opposites. While Jubilee and Thea were both Asian Americans, well, technically Thea was half-Asian American, half-nondescript White, the similarities between the two girls ended there. Jubilee was bright and happy despite the hardships she endured, but Thea was withdrawn and had a hard time getting over things and moving on. Jubilee dressed with a punk flare, was friends with everyone, and craved attention that people willingly gave her. Thea's sense of style was limited to basic tank tops and shorts in the hot weather and sweatshirts and jeans in the cold weather. She had few friends because most people got too frustrated with her closed off nature to bother to get beneath it or wonder why it existed in the first place. Thea was well aware that Jubilee was more well-liked than her, and though Thea tried to convince herself that she didn't care, part of her did. Part of her wanted to be social and cheerful and more like Jubilee. But she just couldn't, which was perhaps the most frustrating thing.

"You always manage to criticize everything," Jubilee said with a frown.

"Why couldn't he just leave the way he came?" Thea asked.

"Because…"

"He needed to jump out a window? That's a bit drastic. Where did all that shattered glass go? They don't bother reporting if people got hurt by it," Thea replied passionately.

Jubilee looked at Thea with disgust as she began her tirade. "You are so unbelievable…"

"I wasn't thinking," someone said softly from behind them.

Thea's head turned swiftly to the voice and Jubilee's did as well. A few feet away from the couch stood a man with blond hair wearing a tan trench coat. Warren.

"When you're strapped down with a woman hovering around you ready to inject you with something you realize you don't want, you panic. All I could think about was getting away as quickly as I could," he said.

Thea looked down at the remaining part of her sandwich. She was no longer hungry. His words were too relatable. She shifted uncomfortably and got up from the couch to go to the kitchen.

"So you're Warren Worthington III?" Jubilee asked excitedly.

"Unfortunately," Warren replied wryly.

"What's it like to fly?" Jubilee asked, seemingly oblivious to Warren's discomfort. The rest of the group that had been watching the news now shifted their attention to Warren.

"Uh…well…" Warren began.

Thea walked away without bothering to hear what he had to say, already annoyed with Jubilee's attentions to this guy and embarrassed that he had heard her tirade. After washing up her plate at the sink, Thea turned around to leave the kitchen, only to find Warren standing in her way.

"What you said…you have a point."

"Forget it," Thea mumbled.

"I'm Warren," Warren said, sticking out his hand.

Thea looked at his hand and frowned. She grabbed it, her hold gentle but firm. "Did this happen when you broke through the window glass?" she asked as she looked at his hands that were red with deep fresh wounds that were scabbing over on his fingers and knuckles.

"Oh, yeah," Warren said, trying to remove his hand from her grasp with embarrassment.

"You didn't have it checked out when you got here?" Thea asked.

"No, Ms. Munroe just showed me my room," he replied. "They have a hospital in the mansion?"

"Yeah, there's a hospital. She probably just had so much on her mind since everything went to shit," Thea mumbled, picking up his other hand with the same gentle grasp. It was as torn up as the other.

"It's fine, I didn't even really think about it," Warren replied.

"Adrenaline," Thea replied dismissively.

"Listen, can you let go of my hands?" Warren asked uneasily.

"Hold on," Thea replied.

Warren felt a tingly sensation coming from his hands and looked down to watch the scabs fall off as fresh skin regenerated under them. He gasped as he admired his newly healed hand. The only thing that indicated there were injuries there at all were the pink patches of skin that stood out from the rest that was a darker shade.

"There," Thea said, dropping his hands unceremoniously.

"Wha…my God," Warren said in amazement.

Thea smirked. "You flatter me," she replied dryly.

Warren chuckled as his cheeks reddened.

Thea walked around him to leave the kitchen.

"Wait," Warren said.

She didn't need to do as he requested, but she did.

"Your name. You never told me."

She looked at him, truly looked at him for the first time. He had lovely blue eyes. She could see why Kitty had said he reeked of sexy. He would be better looking if he didn't hunch his shoulders though…

She snapped out of it.

"Althea," she replied.

"Althea? Interesting name. It is your real name?"

"It's the important name. People usually call me Thea," she replied.

"People? Well, haven't you been watching the news, Althea? I'm part bird," he said with a confident smile.

She rolled her eyes. "Does your part also include the small brain?" she asked, looking at his head.

Warren laughed and watched Thea leave without saying anything more.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Hi everyone! This story has been in my head ever since I saw The Last Stand, so I figured I should write it out. I'm really excited to be writing this story, and I hope you enjoy it. If you've read my Lord of the Rings story and are expecting the sequel, don't worry, I haven't abandoned it! I just really wanted to write out this idea. Please let me know what you think. Thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

"So I heard you had a run-in with Warren," Kitty said the next day during lunch.

"Gotta love the gossip grapevine at good ole Mutant High…" Thea mumbled.

"What's he like?" Kitty asked, ignoring her friend's comment. She had long been accustomed to such sarcastic remarks.

"I don't know. Sort of…I don't know," Thea replied. She took a large bite out of her lasagna.

"Such eloquence," Kitty teased.

"Shut up," Thea retorted through her mouthful of food.

Kitty laughed and took a bite of her macaroni and cheese. "What did you guys talk about?"

"Nothing, really."

"Thea, you're not helping…"

"Kitty, I'm serious when I say nothing. I was criticizing him jumping out of the window and it turns out he was behind me. Jubilee started talking with him so I left. He introduced himself to me in the kitchen, and his hands were all cut up. So I healed them and then I left. The end."

"You healed him?" Kitty asked, a gleam in her eyes.

"Yeah," Thea replied warily.

"You rarely use it," Kitty commented.

"You know I don't like talking about this," Thea replied seriously.

"We're talking about it. Deal."

Thea sighed with annoyance. "I don't like playing God."

"You're just using your ability."

"I just…"

"You just what?"

"Nothing. Can we please change topics. Let's talk about you. How are you and Bobby doing?" Thea asked with a mischievous smile.

Kitty threw her napkin at her friend. "Nothing's going on with me and Bobby. We're friends."

"Uh huh."

"Seriously, he has Rogue and she's great for him."

"But that doesn't change the fact that you like him."

Kitty shrugged. "He likes me like a sister."

Thea grimaced. "Deadly."

"Yeah."

"You should go flirt with Warren. Get your mind off of Bobby."

Kitty laughed. "No. He's too old."

"What? He's too old for you but you throw him at me?"

"He's like twenty-three or something! You're twenty, I'm eighteen. You're old," Kitty replied.

"Thank you," Thea deadpanned.

"Anytime," Kitty said brightly.

Thea checked her watched and sighed. "I have class now," she stated.

Kitty nodded in understanding. "Good luck! It'll be great!"

Thea rolled her eyes and waved goodbye. She had trained her exterior to not show a trace of what she felt inside, but that did not mean she did not feel the nervousness that began in her stomach and spread to her extremities. She walked steadily down the hallway and into the class.

"Hi everyone," Thea said calmly, taking a seat in the front and facing the class.

The class of about twelve students mumbled their hellos as some of the older students shifted uncomfortably in their seats. It was then that Thea noticed Jubilee in the class in the left front corner. Interesting.

She let the class' mood settle a bit before beginning to talk. "I know this is weird. And I'm not going to try to take the place of Professor X because that would be stupid." There was a chuckle from some of the class. "But I don't think he'd want us to stop learning because he's gone. I'm not a professor. That would make me old." Another chuckle from the students. "But I hope I can lead this Ethics class to completion. Are there any questions?"

Jubilee raised her hand and Thea motioned for her to speak. "Why are you teaching this class rather than Ms. Munroe or someone…older?"

Thea had anticipated that the older students would have a problem with learning from someone just one or two years their senior. "Ms. Munroe approached me about teaching this class. I've taken it before and on a personal level, my mutation has led to me having a lot of ethical questions that Professor X had helped me with," Thea answered. "Any other questions?"

There was no response.

"Okay, so, I'll be following the lesson plan Professor X had laid out. Today we'll have a discussion of mutants' responsibility to society. The first question would then be: do mutants have a responsibility to society?"

"Not anymore than anyone else," one student, George, said.

"Why's that?" Thea asked.

"Because we're just people too. Why should we have to go and do more stuff just because we're different?" George replied.

"Not long ago we were treated like freaks who had to be in hiding. Now we're supposed to contribute to that society that screwed us over?" an older teenager, Dom, asked.

"Anyone want to answer that?" Thea asked.

Just then the class' attention shifted to the doorway where Warren was standing.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb," Warren said.

"We're having class right now," Thea replied, a little annoyed.

"Ms. Munroe told me you'd be teaching. May I sit in?" he asked.

Thea waved him in, and he took a seat in the back. Some of the teenage girls were smiling and turned around to continue looking at him even though he was sitting behind them.

"Ladies, I know he's cute. But I'm the only one who gets to look at him," Thea said with an amused smirk.

Some of the girls blushed and turned around while others giggled. The boys were quite happy that Thea had called the girls on their ogling.

"Now, does anyone have a response to George and Dom's questions? Why should we be obligated to do more just because we're different? Why do we have an obligation to a society that treated us so poorly?"

"Because we _are_ different. We have abilities that others don't and to waste them when we can be helping others is selfish. And we shouldn't be vindictive about what happened in the past. I was taken by Stryker, I remember how people treated us like dirt, but nothing is accomplished with that attitude of bitterness," Jubilee replied.

Jubilee was the epitome of optimism, and Thea had to admire her for that though she personally didn't agree.

"But it seems there is a choice involved," Thea commented.

"It's a choice, but people should feel obligated to help if they can," another student, James, stated.

"And how far should that feeling of obligation extend?" Thea asked.

"What do you mean?" James asked.

"Are we obligated to help those who are at a disadvantage like non-mutants and not obligated to help mutants? Or perhaps the opposite. Do we only feel an obligation to fellow mutants, and not to others who may not understand us? And how much are we supposed to do? Do we risk our own lives to save others? Do we do everything we can without putting ourselves in danger?" Thea asked the class.

"I think it's really dangerous to make a ranking of who to help. Thinking like that implies that one group of people is better than another and that's not right," Jubilee said.

"Does anyone disagree with this point?" Thea asked.

No one did.

"I think the reason why were having this debate is because it's easier for us to help. Like, if there's a burning building, it's easier for me to manipulate water and help people than it is for the average dude on the street to help. So society wouldn't put pressure on that average dude to try and help out, but society would put pressure on me to help because it's easier for me," another student, Matthew said. Sometimes during lunch breaks, he would entertain the younger kids with a water works show by the fountain.

The class started questioning him and his personal example of obligation he felt, and although the questions were good, the class put a lot of pressure on Matthew to answer, and he seemed to be getting flustered.

Thea cut in. "Those are all really good points. Let's take another concrete example. I have the ability to heal. Do I have an obligation to society? What is it? Logistically, it is impossible for me to heal everyone who is sick on the planet, so then who do I heal? If there were two people who needed my help, and I can only help one, how do I choose who to help? Is it even right for me to choose? Isn't that placing a rank on people, which we've already established to be wrong?"

The class was silent for a while as the students thought about the questions Thea asked. After a few moments, lively debate started and Thea was quite happy with the level of student participation. Soon the hour was over and Thea dismissed the class with a homework assignment.

A few students hung back. "Thea?" one younger student, perhaps twelve years old, went up to her.

"What's up Chelsea?"

"So what have you decided? About saving people?" Chelsea asked.

Thea shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know yet. The frustrating thing about ethics is that answers are…elusive," she replied.

Chelsea did not look satisfied with Thea response, but she thanked her and left.

"Interesting class," Warren said once the last student left.

"Thanks."

"You're a good teacher," he complimented. He had no idea Thea could be so talkative.

Thea snorted. "Not like Professor X."

"He sounds like he was a great man," Warren said.

"Yes."

But apparently her talkative nature did not extend beyond class.

"Your questions…I've never thought about my responsibility to society," Warren said quietly. Thea did not reply, so Warren continued. "The wings, I always thought about how they affected me, my life, it's always been an internal battle."

"Well, it's understandable. If you looked around, none of the students had mutations that make them stick out from the crowd. You, on the other hand, have a very public mutation. So for them, along with the internal debates, they have the opportunity to do things for society while having the advantage of anonymity."

Warren smiled at hearing Thea speak so much. "I often wished that I had that kind of mutation. Everyone says I shouldn't hate my wings. They say they're beautiful, but I still hate them most of the time," Warren said.

She shrugged. "I don't blame you."

Warren looked up at her, surprised. "What?"

"Well, it's easy to say something is beautiful when you're admiring it. But if you have to live with it, day in and day out…" she ended with a small shrug.

Warren smiled at her, truly intrigued. "You're the first person to ever say that."

Her eyebrow quirked up. "Well, you've been talking to foolish people."

Warren chuckled as he walked out of the classroom with Thea.

"So, why'd you keep them?" she asked.

Warren struggled to try to explain as he walked beside her. "They're…part of me," he said ineloquently.

Thea nodded thoughtfully but did not speak.

"So, how come you're here teaching and not out there in college?" Warren asked, his mood brightening.

"I went to college for a few months. Didn't work out."

Warren wanted to know what happened, but he knew she wouldn't say. "Where did you go?"

"Stanford."

"Wow. Impressive."

Thea shrugged again. "You went to Harvard."

Warren looked at her strangely. "How did you know that?"

"Heard it on the news."

"Ah, geez. They're still talking about me?"

Thea smiled amusedly. "Now they're going into 'who is Warren Worthington III'?"

Warren chuckled. "Oh, no."

"Not into being a celebrity?"

"No."

There was more silence, and once again Warren broke it. He felt like he was forcing conversation, but it was so hard to assess Thea. He couldn't tell if she was just humoring him with responding to his questions but didn't really want to talk or if she was just not used to talking to people.

"So, you think I'm cute?" Warren asked, a bit of an arrogant smile creeping over his lips.

"Spare me from your fishing," Thea replied, exasperated

Warren was taken off guard by her straightforward nature. "I'm not fishing."

"You're fishing, and you're not going to bait me."

Warren shrugged. "Oh, that's a shame," he said flirtatiously.

Thea's head whipped over to look at him and her eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Warren smiled innocently at her. She finally reached her room.

"You live here?" Warren asked.

"Yes," Thea replied.

"I live here," Warren stated, walking up to the room diagonal from Thea's. He flashed her another smile.

Thea sighed exasperatedly. "Joy."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Thanks for the support, I really appreciate it. I got over 100 hits for the first chapter of this story and I'm truly flattered that so many people are reading. If you could review and let me know what you think, that would be super. Thanks also for putting the story onto the C2 called My Guardian Angel, it's an honor! 


	3. Chapter 3

When she came out of her room for dinner, Thea sensed an anxiousness in the mansion that she did not understand. Students were whispering fiercely and looking around. A few people were running through the hallways. She walked towards the kitchen hurriedly, keeping her eyes open for anyone who could give her any type answers.

Thea spotted Logan walking towards her. He looked dirty and a bit ragged, though unsurprisingly there was not a scratch on him.

"Logan. What's going on?"

"Not now, Alf," Logan replied, still walking determinedly. The nickname started when Thea had introduced herself as 'Althea' to Logan two years ago upon her arrival at the mansion. Logan thought the name was too long and obscure and instead opted to call her Alf. Thea liked Logan's rough though caring nature, and he was one of the only ones who knew and could relate to what had happened to her. So, she let the nickname go.

Thea spun around so that she was walking the direction he was. "What's going on?" she asked again, more forcefully. Though not one of the X-Men, she usually knew their activities. She wasn't a student who needed to be protected from the horrors of the world 'out there'.

Logan sighed. "Magneto's mutant army is gonna attack Alcatraz tonight. Destroy the Worthington facility," he said.

"Good," Thea replied bitterly.

"That's why I didn't wanna tell ya, Alf," Logan said softly, a sad, almost pitying smile on his face.

Thea shrugged it off. She didn't need pity. "Don't worry about it."

Logan continued, "The kid that's the source of The Cure is there. We need to get him out."

"Who's 'we'?"

"The X-Men," Logan replied uncomfortably.

Thea looked at him skeptically. "Logan, who's left in the X-Men?"

"There's me, Storm, Hank, Bobby, Peter, and...Kitty," Logan replied, his voice fading before mentioning the last name.

"Ah, shit!" Thea said angrily.

Logan sighed and just continued walking. Thea followed determinedly. They went underground to where the plane was stored. Thea had been underground frequently in the past for psychological testing and physical training, but recently only injuries. Even though she had the ability to heal, her own body did not heal quickly like Logan's did. And when she had sought refuge at the mansion, her mind was in poor shape.

Kitty was standing in the tunnel-like metallic hallway with Bobby and Peter and Storm.

"Thea!" she said, surprised.

"You didn't tell me," Thea said sharply.

"Because I know what you'll say," Kitty tried to reason.

"But that doesn't mean I'm wrong," Thea said adamantly.

"Thea…"

"C'mon, Kit! There's six of you…six against…hundreds!" Thea said, finally showing emotion.

Thea was rarely passionate, and Kitty only saw her in that state a few times in their friendship. Kitty was not too sure of how to proceed.

"Magneto's gonna kill that kid," Kitty said calmly.

Thea ran a hand messily through her purple hair. That kid deserved a happy future rather than a doomed one. But these guys seemed doomed too.

"We need to go," Kitty said firmly.

Thea looked at Peter and Bobby. At least Kitty wouldn't be alone.

"We're going to be alright," Bobby said, looking straight into Thea's eyes.

Thea trusted Bobby. She liked his crystal blue eyes that hid no deceit. She liked the fact that he was always so giving and patient and caring. But just because she trusted him didn't mean she believed a word he said.

Thea sighed, looking to the cool grey floor. Didn't they see how hopeless this was? Didn't they understand that to get out of this alive would be miraculous? They did. She knew they did.

"You just have to be heroes…" she mumbled.

Kitty chuckled. "Absolutely," she replied with a smile. Her eyes lit up. "You've had X-men training…" Kitty stated.

When Thea had first come to the mansion, Professor Xavier suggested that Thea train to be an X-man because she was too old to be a student. But her powers, as they stood, were not suitable for field operations, since they could not help her in any kind of confrontation. Later, when Professor X and Thea realized the extent of Thea's powers, Thea made the decision to not be an X-man, because she never wanted to use her power as an attack.

"Yeah," Thea said.

"Come with us," Kitty replied.

Thea's heart clenched with sadness and embarrassment because she could not give Kitty the response they both wanted to hear.

"Kitty, I can't go back there," Thea said quietly. Her eyes clearly showed her dread.

"Back? What do you mean by back, Thea?" Kitty asked, alarmed.

The door to the plane room opened, and Thea could see the stealth jet standing ominously in front of her.

"Kitty, we have to go now," Storm called to her.

Hank had arrived and Logan was now dressed in his X-Men garb.

"Go," Thea said, struggling through the stinging in the back of her throat and the dread in her stomach. She gently pushing Kitty's shoulder towards the open room.

"Thea…" Kitty said urgently. It was clear she wanted to know what caused Thea to become so emotional.

"Be careful," Thea said, her voice thick and crackling.

Kitty looked at her friend softly for a moment before running to the plane. The door to the room closed and Thea was left to stare at the gray door in the empty hallway. She leaned against the opposite wall and sank to the floor. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she bowed her head and cried.

* * *

After overhearing Wolverine speak to Storm and Hank about what was happening, Warren knew he had to go back. That Magneto guy would certainly kill his dad, and Warren wasn't going to just sit by and let it happen. His dad was a pompous jerk who thought he knew what was best for his son and refused to hear anything to the contrary, but he was still Warren's dad.

By the time he arrived in the San Francisco Bay area, it was dark and the Golden Gate Bridge had been uprooted and placed by Alcatraz. Holy shit. There was chaos on the ground of Alcatraz and Warren didn't know where to begin looking for his dad. Was he already dead? Suddenly he heard cheering and saw that many of the mutants were looking to the roof of the building. There he saw his dad being held by some mutants. They dropped his father over the edge of the roof and cheered as he screamed.

Warren swooped down quickly to intersect his dad's path to the hard ground. Catching him deftly in his arms, Warren couldn't help but feel a bit of satisfaction that his wings, the thing that Dr. Warren Worthington Jr. hated about his son, were the things that had saved his life.

"Warren?" his dad said, dazed.

"I got you, Dad," Warren replied.

Warren flew over the San Francisco's Presidio so that his father was out of harm's way.

"Warren, son, thank you," Dr. Worthington said appreciatively.

"You're welcome, Dad."

There was an awkward silence between the two men, until Dr. Worthington said, "I…only wanted what was best for you."

"I know. But you just don't see that this is what's best for me," Warren replied sadly. "Take care, Dad," he added before flying off back towards Alcatraz.

"Warren!" Dr. Worthington yelled after him. But if Warren heard, he did not respond.

Thea's questions about a mutant's obligation to society had been churning in Warren's mind throughout the flight to the West Coast. And now that he was here, he had decided that he wanted to try to help the X-Men. Granted, he didn't know what kind of help he would be. Having little fighting experience and no formal training, Warren wondered if he was being foolish or heroic by trying to help. Either way, he had made up his mind.

He landed in the middle of a fiery chaos on Alcatraz. Before having time to assess the situation, a large man was yelling and charging at him. Warren quickly sidestepped him and punched the man hard, sending the man to the ground and a spasm of pain through Warren's hand and arm. Although the man was facedown on the ground, his head spun around so that he could see Warren behind him. Warren gasped with surprise and punched the man squarely in the face again. Luckily, the man's arms did not rotate to his back as well, and with a third punch, the man fell unconscious.

Warren didn't have time to celebrate his little victory because there were now two mutants charging at him from opposite directions. One, was a tall bear-like man with sharp thick claws at the end of his brown paw-like hands. The other was a woman who had fangs in her mouth. Warren leapt into the air and kicked the woman in the face since she was closer to him than the bear-man. She fell unconscious with that one kick. All of a sudden Warren felt claws tearing through the membrane of his left wing as he was dragged back down to the ground. Crying out in pain, Warren realized that the bear-man had jumped to bring Warren down. The bear-man punched Warren in the face and swiped his claws across Warren's chest, leaving a streak of bloody claw marks behind. Warren screamed in pain and punched the bear-man in retaliation, but the punch did not seem to hurt the bear-man very much. Warren knew then that he was screwed. Nevertheless, he punched the mutant again, which only made the bear-man stagger at bit before retaliating with an angry swipe of his claws through Warren's already hurt left wing. Warren could feel the membrane rip to shreds and the bones break in his wing. He lost his footing and fell to the ground. The bear-man punched Warren squarely in the gut, and Warren groaned in pain. Just as he thought the final blow would come, the bear-man was struck by a bolt of lightning to his back that shook his body and electrocuted him.

"Come, we must get out of here," Storm said urgently, pulling the battered Warren off the ground and towards the safety of the jet. Jean Grey, as the Phoenix, was beginning to wreak havoc on everything in her path.

When he was safely inside the jet, Warren collapsed on the floor in pain.

"It's okay, Warren. You're going to be fine," Storm tried to sooth him. "Where's Wolverine?" she asked.

"He's not here yet," Kitty said, looking with horror to the bloodied, winged man on the floor. His left wing was in shreds, his chest and face were bleeding quite freely, and he wasn't standing up. "Shit," she mumbled as she strapped Jimmy, the source of The Cure, safely into a seat of the jet.

"Goddamn it, Wolverine," Storm said, realizing he was the only one missing.

Suddenly a wave of pure energy hit the jet, sending everyone but Jimmy to the ground.

"What was that?" Bobby asked.

"I don't know," the Beast replied. He looked out the window of the jet to see that there was no longer a fiery swirl surrounding Alcatraz. "I think the Phoenix is gone."

"Gone?" Storm asked. "What do you mean, gone?"

"I killed her," was the quiet answer coming from the door of the jet. There stood Wolverine with Jean's limp body in his arms. "I had to. But I couldn't just leave her…" he said, losing control of his emotions once again.

"Logan…" Storm said sadly.

"Ororo, I just couldn't save…"

"I know, no one could. It's not your fault…" Storm trailed off comfortingly.

Sensing Storm would not be flying them home, The Beast took control of the jet and they all flew off back to the mansion. In flight, Kitty was trying to help Warren while Storm was trying to console the inconsolable Wolverine. Peter and Bobby had offered to help Kitty with Warren, but she declined. It would crowd Warren to have so many people surround him.

"We should sit you up," she said to him. He was still crouched over on his knees. "You can breath easier that way."

She supported his weight as she shifted his body to an upright sitting position, careful to avoid crushing his already destroyed wing.

"Thanks," he said, cringing as bit as he tried to get settled.

"Sure." Kitty said, trying to assess his wounds. Unfortunately, she knew nothing about wounds and first aid. Thea was the expert on that stuff.

"What's you name?" Warren asked quietly.

"Kitty. Kitty Pryde. I also go by Shadowcat."

"Cool name. All you guys have cool names," Warren mumbled in a slight daze. Was he losing too much blood? He couldn't tell.

Kitty smiled. "You can have a cool name too."

"No, mine's boring. I'm the third person who has the name Warren Worthington. That's not very interesting."

"What about your other name?"

"I was thinking about…Angel."

"Angel. That's nice," Kitty replied.

He shook his head. "Kinda obvious."

Kitty smiled again. "That's okay, it doesn't need to be elusive."

"Speaking of elusive…what is up with Althea's name? Why is it Althea?" he asked.

Kitty's eyes widened with surprise and Warren wondered if he said something wrong.

"It's Greek…for Healer," Kitty explained.

"Ah, makes more sense now," Warren replied.

"Yeah, she once told me it was either that or 'Girl Who Can Save Your Sorry Ass' but she thought that was a bit too forward," Kitty added.

Warren began to chuckle, but the scratches on his chest hurt too much. He started coughing, and he was coughing up blood. _Great, play the hero, cough up your insides_, he thought sardonically. Just great.


	4. Chapter 4

Thea didn't know how long she stayed there, staring at the closed door and crying her eyes out. Rarely did she cry. Rarely did she allow herself the luxury of dealing with the feelings bottled up inside. She hadn't always been like this – distant, bitter, and sarcastic. There was once a time she was cheerful and happy, like Jubilee, but that time ended when she was fourteen and she held her dead brother in her arms. There was once a time she was innocent to the ugliness the world had to offer, but that time ended when she was eighteen. Dr. Warren Worthington and his damned minions were monsters, and that was all there was to it. It only confused Thea more that his son seemed so…nice.

But that didn't matter. What mattered what that she let that bastard doctor control her life once again. Two years had passed and she still allowed him that power over her and her choices. She wanted to go with Kitty, to fight beside her best friend, but her fear of that man and all that he stood for did not allow her to make the choice she wanted to make. She didn't hate him so much as she hated herself. She hated her own weakness, and, even though she tried to hide it, how much it controlled her.

The crying subsided eventually and Thea still sat there, waiting for the jet's return, wondering if Kitty and Logan and the others would be alright. The Phoenix had killed Professor X, so the Phoenix could kill anyone…everyone.

She didn't know how long she drowned in her angst-filled thoughts, but eventually the door to the plane room opened. Thea got to her feet. The first person she saw was Kitty.

"Kitty!" she exclaimed with happiness, flinging her arms around her friend in a rare display of emotion.

"Thea," Kitty said, shock clearly evident in her voice.

Thea hoped her eyes were no longer red-rimmed and puffy. She didn't want Kitty to ask questions about why she had been crying.

"You've been waiting here the whole time?" Kitty asked.

Thea hesitated. How long had it been?

"Never mind. Listen, Thea…" Kitty began.

But Thea wasn't listening. All her attention was on the bleeding, bruised, and limping form of Warren Worthington III, who was being helped along by Hank.

"You went too?" she whispered in surprise, not really to Warren, but more to herself. Why was he so battered while everyone else seemed just a bit worse for wear?

"Thea, will you help him?" Kitty said.

Thea's attention went back to her friend after she watched Hank help Warren to the hospital wing.

"Are you hurt?" Thea asked, realizing there was blood on Kitty's hands.

"No," Kitty said, looking at her hands as well. "It's Warren's blood."

Thea rushed over to the hospital without another thought. Hank was placing Warren gently on his back on a metal table. The wing that was unharmed was open to its full extent, while the mangled one was hanging awkwardly off of the table.

Thea also caught sight of Logan putting the body of Jean Grey on another table and ran over to them. She felt for a pulse but found none.

"I can't…I can't help her," Thea said sadly, looking at the body of the beloved teacher who she never thought she would see again.

"I know, Alf," Logan said distantly.

Thea backed away from that table and went back to Warren. Storm was setting up machines to monitor his heartbeat.

"I got this," Thea said to her.

Storm looked at Thea critically. "Are you sure? We can…"

"I got this," Thea said again, more forcefully.

Storm backed away and allowed Thea access to Warren's table.

"Hey," Warren mumbled.

"You're an idiot," she replied, assessing the wounds on his chest and hoping they were superficial. There was just so much blood. Practically every part of his chest was various shades of red.

"I was hoping for a hello, but that works too."

"This is the second time I'm healing you in two days. I've only known you for two days. Absolutely ridiculous," Thea muttered irritably. How could someone lose so much blood and still be conscious enough to be a smartass?

"You don't have to..."

"Shut up, I need to concentrate," Thea replied, cutting him off. Sure she didn't have to, but she was going to.

Warren looked like he wanted to retort, but he didn't as soon as her warm hands touched his chest.

Thea could sense minor internal bleeding and a fractured rib. It was quite interesting, but Warren's bones were hollow, like a bird's. He wasn't lying when he said he was part bird. _Alright, cells, time to make Warren all better_, she thought. Every time she healed someone, it was an art - accelerating the growth of certain cells and thus healing the tissues and the organs delicately.

When Thea thought she had completed her work on his chest, she grabbed a towel and wetted it with warm water. She washed the dried blood from his chest and examined her work.

If Thea was honest with herself, she would say that healing Warren was her best healing job to date. Her work was good, it was always good, but the patient was…okay, he was attractive. She almost felt bad because she couldn't heal away the discoloration from the new skin on his chest. His chest just looked…nice. It wasn't chiseled like an Exacto knife had etched out a six pack into his skin, but honestly Thea found that look intimidating. Warren's chest was…warm…smooth…toned…and…nice.

"Althea, you're staring," Warren teased lightly.

Thea startled for a moment before changing her attention to his beaten face. His split lower lip was upturned in a smirk. His eyes, well, eye, since his left eye was swollen shut from a punch, was glistening with amusement.

She put the bloodied rag aside. "You're talking. Clearly you have a problem listening to people," she replied.

"Yeah, and clearly you have a problem admitting you were checking me out," Warren retorted with an easy smile.

She ignored him, unwilling to admit how much he unnerved her.

Her touch was gentle and deliberate. Her fingers touched his upper cheek and the swelling and bruise faded. Her fingers touched his bottom lip, and it healed. Warren licked his lip and smiled up at Thea, but thankfully did not say anything.

She crouched down to assess the damage to his wing and cringed. It was literally in tatters. "Shit…" she mumbled.

"Bear claws," Warren replied.

She placed her hand gently on his wing, but Warren hissed and his wings bristled.

"Sorry," she said softly.

"No, I'm just being a wuss," he replied.

A wuss wouldn't have gone to Alcatraz in the first place. Thea knew Warren was no wuss.

"Idiot," she mumbled again.

Placing her hand once more on his wing, she began the process of reattaching the membrane. When that was finally done, she accelerated the growth of the epidermis cells with keratin proteins so that the feathers he had lost grew back.

She rose from her crouched position to look at Warren. "Anything else?" she asked.

Warren sat up and slid off the table to stand on his feet, only to crumple over Thea. She caught him quickly around his bare torso and propped him up against the side of the metal table he was just laying on. His body was warm and firm and soft all at the same time. Thea tried really hard not to blush.

"I forgot about the ankle," Warren replied sheepishly as he looked at Thea's hands on his side.

Thea nodded and kneeled down, placing a hand on the ankle to heal the strain. Getting up again, she asked, "Anything else hurt?"

Warren shook his head, now able to stand on his own. "Nothing but my pride," he said, a bit of self-deprecation seeping through. He folded his wings behind his back and shifted his weight from side to side.

Thea backed away from him, taking a deep breath. "So what happened?" she asked, looking at Warren, Kitty, Peter and Hank. At some point during her administrations to Warren, Wolverine and Storm had left the hospital.

"Human soldiers were using the Cure as a weapon, Magneto had hundreds of angry mutants around, Warren saved his father's life, I got Jimmy out or the building, Peter threw Wolverine at Magneto as a distraction while Hank injected him with the Cure, then we all retreated because the Phoenix was out of control. Wolverine stayed behind and…killed her," Kitty summarized.

Thea quickly processed the information. "You used the Cure as a weapon?" she asked, directing her attention to Hank.

"It was the only way to stop Magneto," Hank defended.

"But…you guys are the X-men. You stand for justice and all that other heroic stuff. The Cure, it was supposed to be a choice," Thea said.

"Thea..." Hank began.

"No. You know Magneto. You guys gave him a fate worse than death. You made him what he hates, and you think you did the right thing?" Thea said, disdain evident in her voice.

She could see Kitty, Bobby and Peter shift around uneasily. Warren look perplexed.

Hank frowned deeply. His stance was proud, and Thea had to remind herself that he had been a government official and a brilliant scientist. "You weren't there, Thea. You don't know the circumstances we were in. It was our call to make, and I stand by it," he said firmly.

Thea knew he had a point, but that didn't make her point any less valid. Then again, Thea's views on the Cure were a bit biased - she hated it.

"I just think the wrong person died today," she said quietly.

If Wolverine was able to get close enough to the Phoenix to kill her, he was close enough to the Phoenix to give her the Cure and stop the madness. Jean Grey could have been alive. Jean Grey wouldn't have thought being human was the hell that Magneto thought it was.

Hank looked to the floor, unable to give Thea a response.

But Thea felt guilty the minute she uttered those words. Even though she believed them, she had no right to pass this type of judgment onto the group of heroic people who risked their lives for the sake of others. It was far more than she could ever do, and yet here she was criticizing them.

Deeply ashamed, Thea turned around to exit the hospital, when a wave of dizziness hit her. She swayed uneasily, and just when she though she was going to fall flat on her ass, she felt herself being supported around the waist.

"Are you alright?" Warren asked, concern evident in his voice.

She had been so pumped up on adrenaline when she saw Kitty come back and Warren injured, and when she gave her tirade about the X-Men's actions, that she had forgotten how exhausted she got from healing.

"Yeah," Thea said, feeling the full effects of total exhaustion permeate her body.

"Let me take you to your room," Warren said.

"No, I'm fine," Thea insisted.

"C'mon, Thea, stop being a stubborn ass," Kitty said, coming up to Thea.

"Fine," Thea relented without much struggle.

Thea turned back around to face Hank, who still had a very severe expression on his face.

"Dr. McCoy, I'm sorry. It was wrong of me to say those things. You all were heroes today," Thea said, swallowing her pride and looking at Hank.

Hank's eyes leveled with her. "Your points are completely valid, Thea. But we, after all, are fallible creatures," he said, his voice heavy with sadness.

She nodded thoughtfully and was escorted out of the room by Kitty and Warren. She insisted that she could walk, so Kitty and Warren walked behind her. The ride on the elevator and the walk to her room was silent.

When they finally reached her door, Warren looked a bit uncomfortable. "Thanks," he said awkwardly. "Again. I owe you one, no, two," he added.

Thea smiled slightly. "I'll remember that."

"Get some rest," Kitty said.

"Yes, Mom. You too," Thea teased.

Kitty smiled and pushed Thea into the room, closing the door after her.

Thea collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Kudosto those of you who thought Thea would help Warren out! Thanks so much for the reviews and for the support. I'm glad people like the story. Thea is not from the comics, she is a character I created. It means a lot to me that people find her real. Please review! 


	5. Chapter 5

Warren kept busy during the next week. He decided to take the position as the economics professor at the school. He figured that if he was staying there, he might at well help out as best as he could. Teaching was challenging, but he was enjoying it. The class was comprised of sixteen to nineteen year olds, and the only familiar face was Kitty. He didn't have to deal with too much unruliness but rather blatant staring from some of the girls in the class.

Warren also began training with the X-Men. Ororo and Logan were not conducting the training, but Bobby, Kitty, and Peter taught Warren a lot in the Danger Room. The young X-Men were all quite helpful, and they seemed to respect him for helping out at Alcatraz even if he got the shit beat out of him in the process. Warren wasn't sure if he wanted to be an X-Man, but he hoped the training would prevent future injuries in confrontations. Also, he liked what the X-Men stood for, even though he wasn't sure if this would be his future path.

Chaos reigned supreme within the mansion. Logan was in emotional shambles, locking himself in his room and not coming out at all. The only one who dared to go in there was Marie, who, Warren had learned, had taken the Cure and could now touch people. But Warren saw her leave Logan's room crying, so he assumed it had not gone well. Storm was distant and distracted; all of her classes were canceled for the week. The children were confused and restless, and many of the older students had to step up and keep the younger ones in line.

Thea, unsurprisingly, was a leading authority figure in this time of confusion. When the younger teenage boys would begin fist fights, she would be the one to jump in and separate them. When some girls were having shouting matches with each other, she would shout louder and try to figure out a way to keep the peace. When there was no food for dinner, she would be the one to whip up a large pot of spaghetti that could feed twenty people. Unfortunately, Thea's involvement did not extend to Warren.

Thea would join the group for dinner, but she kept quiet and did not even spare him a glance. Warren would try to strike up conversation with her, but she would answer his questions curtly and proceed to ignore him. He learned that none of them but Kitty were particularly close to Thea though they all seemed to respect her and her good cooking. When Warren questioned Kitty about it once Thea fled from dinner after hastily eating, Kitty tried to explain.

"Thea…she has a hard time with new people," Kitty said.

"Maybe if she got to know me, it would be easier," Warren supplied. He had been there for a few weeks already, yet he had barely spoken to the girl who had healed him.

"That's the logical answer, and usually Thea is really logical, but…"

"But what?" Warren asked.

"She healed you," Kitty said.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Thea doesn't like using her healing powers. She…she thinks she's playing God when she does it. So, whenever she does use it, she goes into these funks where she doesn't eat much and just thinks a lot," Kitty explained. "The fact that you're new is probably making her funk worse."

"I told her she didn't need to heal me," Warren said.

"Yeah, but Thea, once something gets into her mind, it's hard to get it out. She wanted to heal you, that's a good sign," Kitty said hopefully.

Warren looked at her skeptically. "I don't really understand how that's a good sign," he said.

"When she heals people, she feels guilty because she can't heal everyone and so that means she chooses who she's saving. The fact that she didn't hesitate to heal you meant that for some reason, your well-being meant more to her than her internal moral struggles did at that moment. Trust me, it's hard to supersede Thea's moral struggles," Kitty replied with an encouraging smile.

Warren nodded and continued eating his dinner. "She sure is…weird," he commented to Kitty.

Kitty just smiled.

* * *

Thea was lying on her bed, physically exhausted but mentally buzzed. Kitty walked through her room.

"You're so rude," Thea said as she heard the bed creak under Kitty's weight.

"Oh, and you're Miss Courteous," Kitty countered.

Thea snorted.

"He asked about you after you left today. Asked why you're ignoring him," Kitty reported.

"Oh," Thea said.

"He's nice," Kitty commented.

"He's annoying," Thea said.

"And yet you've healed him…twice," Kitty pointed out.

Thea didn't say anything.

In the two years Thea and Kitty knew each other, Thea had only used her healing abilities a few times. The most recent time had been about six months ago when Artie, a mute mutant with a reptilian tongue, had fallen down the stairs and ended up with a broken ankle and a minor concussion. Thea had seen the whole thing occur and did not hesitate to heal the wounded boy. Only afterwards did she realize that she had healed Artie when just a few days before she had seen another boy, Flea, fall on the basketball court and sustain similar injuries. She did not heal Flea but instead watched Storm escort the injured boy to the hospital.

What had made her choose to heal Artie but not Flea? Was it even a conscious choice or something more instinctual? What kind of person would chose to heal one person and not the other? Whether she meant to or not, she had placed Artie's well-being above Flea's and she did not like that. She did not like favoring people. She hated what her ability made her do. She hated how guilty she felt after every time she healed someone knowing there were so many more out there that she could have healed but did not heal.

But now, in a course of two days, she managed to heal Warren Worthington III two times. The same questions and many more swirled in Thea's head.

"Now's just not the time to be an angst whore," Thea said, criticizing herself.

Kitty laughed.

"I'm serious. This place is just so messed up," Thea explained.

"You're doing a lot. Let others help out too," Kitty said.

Thea knew Kitty was right. Thea just hated disorder, and right now, the mansion reeked of it. Also, keeping busy around the mansion meant she had less time to think about her internal disorder. That was always a plus.

"Wanna talk about it?" Kitty asked.

"What can I say?" Thea asked, not bothering to feign ignorance at to what Kitty was referring to.

"Whatever you want," Kitty said encouragingly.

Thea smiled. "You're good to me, Kit," she said affectionately.

"I'm a fantastic person," Kitty supplied.

Thea laughed, her mood brightening. "Yes, you are," she said, giving her friend an ego boost.

"Glad that's been established once again. So, talk," Kitty urged.

Thea was quiet for a few moments until she finally confessed, "I don't know why I healed him, either time. It was…it wasn't even a question in my head."

"That's good, isn't it?"

"No. I don't like this running on instinct thing. Makes questions come up later on. Why did I heal him? Why didn't I heal other people?" she said.

"I think you're too hard on yourself," Kitty said gently.

"I think I'm an idiot," Thea countered.

"Yeah, that was a pretty idiot thing to say just then," Kitty conceded.

"What?" Thea asked, a bit annoyed.

"You know there are no concrete answers," Kitty reasoned.

"I'm not looking for answers, Kit. I'm looking for how I feel about my abilities. I should be consistent in who I heal, when I heal…that sort of thing," Thea said.

"You're looking for the impossible, and you know it too," Kitty replied.

Thea didn't respond.

"You're trying to make up rules for how to run your life. And you can't. If you try, you'll break them eventually, and that'll just make you angry. You made the rule about not using your healing powers after Arnie and now you've used them. You just have to…"

"Deal?" Thea supplied.

"Yeah."

Thea inhaled and exhaled deeply. "Yeah," she said quietly.

"Thea?"

"Hm?"

"Before I left to Alcatraz, you said you couldn't go back there. Did Warren's dad…did he do something to you?" Kitty asked gently.

Thea frowned. She certainly didn't want to talk about that now. "Yes."

"What happened?" Thea could hear the concern and alarm in Kitty's voice.

Thea sighed. "Another day, Kit. And please don't tell Warren," she said.

Kitty sighed quietly. "Okay."

* * *

The next day Warren found Thea alone and decided to approach her. She was in the garden, her full lips looking quite nice in a cheerful smile. Her purple hair sparkled vibrantly in the sun and complimented her tanned skin as her slightly slanted brown eyes were unguarded and bright. She touched a dying flower with her small fingers and it rejuvenated.

"Hey," he said, almost feeling guilty for intruding onto a happy time.

Thea looked up from the flowers and the smile disappeared. "Hi," she said stoically.

Warren's feelings of intrusion only amplified. "Sorry, I'll go," Warren said, turning around to leave.

"You don't have to," Thea blurted out.

Warren faced her again with a peculiar look on his face.

She averted her eyes. "The garden…is open to everyone," she said lamely. She resumed her examination and rehabilitation of the flowers.

She looked like she didn't want him there, and yet she said he didn't need to leave. "You confuse me," Warren admitted as he continued to watch her.

Thea looked at him thoughtfully. "I confuse myself."

"You look happy here," he commented. "Less confused around flowers?"

Thea shrugged. "People are messed up. Flowers…they're just there."

"You don't like people much, but you're practically running this place right now?" Warren asked.

Thea smirked. "I like the power, not necessarily the people," she confessed.

Warren laughed. "You're friends with Kitty though," Warren pressed on.

"No one cannot be friends with Kitty. She's just so…"

"Nice?"

"Yeah."

"I don't think you don't like people."

Thea quirked an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"No, I think you're just…scared. Probably something happened to you in the past that was traumatic and makes you think you hate people."

"Did you major in psychology in college or something?" Thea asked.

Warren smiled, a bit of arrogance seeping through. "Minored."

Thea didn't say anything, so Warren continued.

"I may have lost a lot of blood, but I saw your face after I got beat up at Alcatraz. You called me names but I heard the tone in your voice," he said.

"Don't flatter yourself."

"You were worried," Warren stated.

Thea shrugged. "You were hurt."

"There was compassion," Warren replied, stepping closer to her.

Thea backed up. "I'm no saint."

It was Warren's turn to shrug. "Never said you were. But, you're usually…"

"A bitch?" Thea supplied, crossing her arms in a defensive stance.

Warren laughed and shook his head. "No, never thought that actually. Most people here just seem…troubled."

Thea let out a hearty laugh at that. "You're so PC."

"I am my father's son, occasionally," he said lightly.

Thea's eyes darkened and her posture became stiff.

Warren had intended that as a joke, seeing as how he was nothing like his father, but apparently it did not go over so well.

"Althea?"

"Everyone here has their demons," Thea said distantly as she brought another dying bloom to life.

Warren watched her with utter fascination. "Even you?"

She raised her head so that their eyes met. "Especially me," she said quietly.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Thanks for the reviews! Your compliments are so amazing! I was so happy to read that one of you guys found the story sexy. WOW! What a wonderful compliment. As for using my ideas of Warren in your stories: it's okay if other writers want to make Warren flirty like my characterization of Warren, but if you take dialogue or storylines from my story and put it into yours, that's plagiarism and that's not cool, so I ask that you please do not do that. I hope you guys like this chapter. Please review! 


	6. Chapter 6

She knew he was trying to be friends with her, but she didn't know if she wanted his friendship. Could she put everything else aside and simply be friends with Warren Worthington III? Was his friendship worth it? If she were to become friends with Warren, was she certain she would not have an ulterior motive, like revenge on the father? Too many questions with too few answers caused Thea to push all of it to the back of her mind and ignore him in the process.

But it wasn't as though she could ignore him completely. When she looked at Warren, she did not see his father. His presence, though disconcerting, was also refreshing. He was kind and patient and witty. He was arrogant, but not sickeningly so. He was confident, and Thea admired that. He was not afraid of her cold attitude, which surprised her. Also, somewhere deep down inside, she respected Warren immensely for rejecting the Cure.

Thea climbed up the stairs to access the roof over the middle part of the mansion. It was the only flat roof at the school, and was one of the many escape routes that could be taken if the school were to come under siege again. Thea liked the roof because no one went there, and the view of the sunset was fantastic. All the problems seemed smaller higher up.

She leaned against one of the castle-like pillars at the edge of the rooftop. The sun was just beginning to descend below the horizon. The sky was alive with bright pinks and oranges, and Thea smiled. A large bird flapped its wings gracefully across the bright sky. She wondered how it would be to fly during the sunset when the sun was no longer angrily glaring down at her world but instead getting ready to go glare down on the other side of the world. The bird looked carefree, following the air currents to dip and glide elegantly in the sky. Only when Thea saw the bird coming closer to the house did she realize it was actually Warren.

When he was flying, he looked…magnificent.

Warren flew closer to the mansion and landed carefully next to her.

"Hi," he said, smiling at her.

"Hi."

His wings were still extended and Thea finally saw up close what he looked like in his full glory.

"What?" he asked as he sat next to her.

She looked away, embarrassed that he always seemed to catch her staring. "Nothing."

"You were looking at me weird," Warren pressed on.

"It's nothing. Just that, I never saw your wings extended and not mutilated before."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

After a pregnant pause, Warren asked uneasily, "Thoughts?"

She turned to him and smiled softly. "I'm speechless," she said honestly.

Warren looked towards the sunset, and Thea was pleased to see the blush creeping into his cheeks.

"I thought you didn't like wings," he said.

Thea furrowed her eyebrows. "When did I say that?"

"You said those people who said they were beautiful are foolish."

She frowned. Warren seemed to warp things in his mind, which could be dangerous. "No, I said they were foolish if they didn't consider the more practical matters about having wings. That has nothing to do with them being beautiful," she clarified.

"Oh."

"Oh," she mocked.

"So you think they're beautiful?" he asked, hopeful.

She shrugged. "It doesn't matter what I think," she said.

"Why?"

She sighed dramatically and looked at him as though it should be obvious. "Because, at the end of the day, you're the one who has to square with your abilities. You should think your wings are beautiful because you think so, not because I do." Thea realized her slipup and blushed a bit. She hadn't meant to reveal that she thought his wings were beautiful.

Warren nodded, catching the slip. "Thanks," he said quietly.

"Sure."

They were silent for a while until Warren finally broke it like he always did. "People…they've always liked me or didn't like me for reasons beyond my control. First they liked me or didn't like me because of my father. Then they liked me or didn't like me because of my wings. My father said he loved me despite my wings – that did wonders for my self esteem," Warren said dryly. "Some girls were turned on by the idea of a guy with wings and I didn't do anything to change their minds, to make them care about me."

"That's why you don't like them?" Thea asked.

There was a long silence, until Warren finally said, "Pretty much."

Warren definitely had some sort of psychological complex involving his wings, and Thea had to admit that his story interested her. What was his past like? Was he a troublemaker when he was a kid? Was he a loner? Did his little speech there imply he never was in love? Wait…why did she care?

Quickly, she refocused her attention onto the current conversation.

"They aren't you," Thea said rather cryptically.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Our abilities don't define us. We define our abilities. I know that sounds like just sappy crap, but it's true. And I know that for you, since your wings are so visible, you have it a lot harder than most people, but they're just one part of you," Thea explained. She found it ironic that she was giving him advice about dealing with his mutation when she herself was struggling with accepting hers.

"You do sound like a self-help book," he teased.

"Shut up," Thea snapped, though she was smiling.

The last bit of the sun crept down below the horizon.

"Thanks," Warren said, more seriously.

"Whatever."

There was silence for a while until this time, Thea broke it.

"It must be a bitch to sleep. Can you even sleep on your back?" she asked randomly. Whoa, since when did she start asking those "getting-to-know-you" questions? Perhaps she wanted to be friends with him after all?

Warren chuckled. "No, not really. It feels awkward. I wind up just sleeping on my stomach most of the time."

Thea snickered. "Like a baby," she teased.

Warren looked outraged for a moment before his stance calmed and he smiled. "Why are you so interested in my sleeping habits anyway?" he asked insinuatingly.

Thea's eyes narrowed and she looked away. "Don't get any ideas," she warned.

"I have lots of ideas," Warren countered charmingly.

"Really? Your bird brain can fit all of them?" Thea retorted.

Warren laughed and Thea smiled.

* * *

From that day forward, Warren and Thea began a tentative friendship. Thea was reluctant to initiate any kind of contact, but Warren soon learned that she never rejected his company. When he would interrupt her thoughts on the rooftop, she would look momentarily miffed and then talk with him, sometimes until the sky went black. When he would bang on her door with snacks and economics papers to grade, she would roll her eyes and open her door wider to let him in, and they would grade their classes' papers together.

Warren had never put so much effort into befriending someone, and now he knew why. Thea was quite self-absorbed - not because she was always talking about herself and not letting anyone else talk, but because she rarely shared her thoughts and emotions with him. A lot of the time he thought she was in another world, and he wondered how much attention she truly paid him. It was hard to continually try to be friends with her when she seemed so apathetic to the idea.

But sometimes he would catch her looking at him as they talked or graded papers, and her expression wasn't one of coldness or annoyance but rather warmth. She would always look away once she realized Warren had caught her looking, and Warren would never tell her that those looks were the only way he knew she liked his company despite how she acted.

About three weeks later, Thea questioned him on his continual presence in her life when he landed after flying around before the sunset. He took great pleasure in knowing she was watching and would sometimes show off with fancy dips and tumbles in the sky.

"Why the hell are you always around?" she asked in an annoyed voice once he landed on the rooftop.

"Well, Althea, I like your company," he replied easily.

She let out a small, derisive laugh. "My company is not coveted much," she said.

"By me it is," he said.

She looked at him seriously. "Why?" she asked softly, showing a bit of emotion.

Warren shrugged as he stared at the setting sun. "You want brutal honesty?" he asked.

"Always," she replied.

"You were the first person to ever criticize me," he said.

"That's an awful reason to want to be my friend," she stated.

"Would you just let me do the explaining?" Warren replied, feigning impatience.

Thea lifted up her hands in surrender and Warren continued.

"My father, he criticized me for having wings, criticized me for being different. Same with the other students at high school and college. My professors were either too scared to criticize me because of my difference or they criticized me more because I was different. All criticism was based on the wings. But you criticized my actions, my thoughtlessness," Warren explained.

"You do realize that in this place, hardly anyone would criticize you for having wings. And I'm sure other people would have criticized you for jumping out of a window. You could be friends with lots of other people by your reasoning," Thea said.

Warren shook his head. "Who else would call me an idiot while healing me?"

Thea laughed heartily. "You have a warped way of choosing your friends," she said.

"Nah. That was only what got me interested in being your friend," Warren said.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I chose to befriend you because you seemed so against the idea," Warren said, smiling.

"You liked the challenge?" Thea asked.

"Pretty much," Warren confessed.

"How typically male," Thea grumbled.

"Hey! I take offense to that," Warren said, nudging her with his shoulder.

She nudged back. "I'm your friend now though. So, that means I'm not a challenge anymore," Thea reasoned.

"No, the challenge now is to get me to be your friend," Warren said.

"What? You…you are my friend," Thea admitted with a bit of difficulty.

Warren appraised her as she fidgeted uncomfortably next to him. "Really?" he asked doubtfully.

"Well, yeah."

"How?"

"What do you mean how? You just…you just are," she said, getting flustered.

Warren enjoyed making her uncomfortable because it happened so rarely. "I want to be your real friend, like Kitty is, not just the guy you put up with," he revealed.

"I gripe to Kitty about PMS and other girly stuff. You sure you want that?" Thea asked skeptically.

Warren laughed.

"And…I just don't put up with you," Thea said, sharing something that Warren actually did not know.

"Really?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah. You're…It's good when you're around," Thea admitted.

"So that whole thing about you being annoyed with my presence is all an act?" Warren asked.

"Oh, no. It's annoying…"

Warren laughed.

"But good…too," Thea added softly.

Warren smiled slowly.

"So, your challenge has been achieved," Thea said in an uncertain voice.

Warren got the feeling Thea thought that once he got her to be his friend, he would abandon her. It was as though Thea was just waiting for him to leave their fragile relationship. He shifted his body to face Thea's, which invaded her personal space a bit. She fidgeted but faced him in return.

"Maybe," Warren mumbled. "But I like your company."

Thea's eyes, Warren had quickly realized, were usually guarded. Occasionally he would make her laugh, and her eyes would sparkle for a bit. Occasionally he would watch as she fought with Jubilee, and her eyes would blaze. But this time, right then, her eyes were filled with surprise and uncertainty. Warren knew then that his next challenge would be getting more surprised looks out of her while reducing the ones of uncertainty.

* * *

"You're staring," Warren teased as he caught Thea once again looking at him.

Thea reverted her eyes to the Ethics papers she was grading on her bed. "Shut up," she said.

Warren chuckled from Thea's desk chair. "I already know you think I'm cute. So, really, it's okay, stare away," he said, reclining as bit so she would have an easier view of his bare chest.

Thea scowled. "Arrogant…ostrich," she muttered.

"Ostriches can't fly," he retorted.

"God, you're infuriating," Thea said annoyedly.

"I know," he admitted. "Would it make you feel any better if I said I thought you were cute?" He wondered how she would react at his flirtatious comment. He already knew Thea wasn't one to flirt, but maybe she would give it a shot.

She stiffened on her bed and looked at him warily. "How is that supposed to make me feel better?" she asked.

Warren shrugged. He had hoped for a more fun response. "Just, you know, level the playing field," he said.

"What game are we playing?" she asked carefully as she resumed grading the papers.

Why was she always this difficult? Every time Warren tried to do some harmless flirting, she shot him down. It was like she never heard of friends flirting. Perhaps she just didn't want him to get the wrong idea, which was stupid because it was blatantly obvious that she wasn't interested in anything remotely romantic. And to be honest, Warren did not want to get involved with her in that way. She had too many problems, too many secrets, and not enough trust for his liking.

That did not mean he did not find her attractive, because he did. She was intelligent and though she was usually bitingly sarcastic, she had a soft heart that she tried to hide. He liked the fact that she was blunt but always honest. And, okay, her physical features were very pleasant to look at. The whole combination of brown slightly-slanted eyes, small nose, full lips, and round face was quite pretty. She was about five-foot-five, with strangely small hands and feet. She was strong, hell, she had to be to pull apart fighting teenage boys, and it showed. Her arms and calves and thighs were a bit large but well toned. Her slightly rounded stomach led up to…okay, so Warren was male and, yes, he had checked out Thea's breasts. They weren't small, but they weren't huge, they were just…there…and they were…nice.

Thea had thankfully never looked up while Warren was checking her out.

"Flirting, Althea, I'm trying to flirt with you," Warren said slowly as though he was teaching a lesson to a first grader.

She frowned. "I don't do flirting, Warren," she said.

Way to state the obvious. "I've noticed. But you know, it's perfectly okay to do. People can just…flirt."

"People? Oh, but Warren, you're part bird," Thea cooed in a mock girly flirting voice.

Warren opened his mouth to retort but did not have anything to say. She had used his words against him. He slumped back in the chair. "And you think I'm infuriating," he mumbled, looking critically at Thea.

Thea smiled a little too sweetly. "I was just…flirting," she replied, her voice dripping with innocence.

Warren cringed and could feel the blush in his cheeks and neck. Just great. Try to throw Thea off and she just turns it around on you. Then an idea popped into his head.

"Are you ticklish?" he asked.

Thea's innocent smile faded into a scowl. "Why do you ask?"

She was, Warren realized. He got out of the chair and advanced towards the bed.

"Don't make me go X-man on you," Thea threatened.

Warren stopped, trying to figure out what on earth she had just said. Then he laughed, hard. He collapsed onto her bed in a fit of laughs.

"I'm serious," Thea said, in her threatening voice.

"Uh huh," Warren replied disbelievingly.

"I've had X-men training. I could kick your ass," Thea said adamantly.

"I'm sure you can. I just think you won't," Warren said.

"Oh really?" Thea asked.

"Yep!"

Warren launched his body over Thea's and began tickling her mercilessly. She squealed, actually squealed, and tried to squirm away from him, but his body pinned her to the bed. She used her hands to push him away quite strongly, but gravity was working against her, and Warren fell back towards her after she pushed. She placed her hands on his chest once again, but Warren's tickling distracted her from pushing him away, and instead her hands dragged down his bare chest. Big mistake.

Warren had intended the tickling to be harmless fun, a way to get back at Thea for being the smartass that she was, but the feelings her hands generated were not harmless. Soon Warren realized how good she looked writhing around under him, and his mind was no longer focused on tickling. An image of a naked, sweating and moaning Thea writhing under him popped into his mind, and Warren was horrified as well as terribly excited.

She pushed him one final time, and he fell off the bed and onto the floor, having lost his concentration to his hormones.

She sat up on the bed, disheveled and quite peeved. She looked damn sexy. Oh shit. "You're going to pay for that," she warned.

But he had known that already.

* * *

**Author's Note:** The reviews were so nice, my goodness! You guys are very generous with praise and I appreciate that so much. This chapter has more scenes of Warren's POV than Thea's, which I thought was important to show what his motivations are for wanting to hang out with Thea since she's quite a difficult person. Anyway, please review, I love reading them. Thanks! 


	7. Chapter 7

Thea never liked it when things that needed to get done happened at a snail's pace. However, she dealt with the slowness of restoring the school as best she could. The school, in all honesty, would never be restored. The headmaster was gone. Scott and Jean were gone. It would never be the same.

Thea, having only lived in the school for two years, was a relative new-comer. But that did not mean she did not silently grieve for the loss of the three people. Since she had already graduated high school by the time she had arrived, the only classes she did take were those that interested her. She had taken Scott's Automotives class because she hadn't known anything about cars before. She had taken Jean's Introduction to Medicine class because, though she had sworn off healing, she was fascinated by medicine. She had taken the Professor's Ethics class and they had shared a special bond over her struggles with her mutation. And though now she hid it well, she really missed them.

After two months, Ororo and Logan, though still grieving, were at least mentally present at the mansion now. Ororo had resumed her classes, and Logan became a bit of an enforcer like Thea was. Thea reduced her role as an authority figure around the mansion when she was confident things were back on track. She would still make meals, and everyone was quite happy about that.

The mood around the mansion had dampened. The older students, particularly Thea, Kitty, Marie, Bobby, Peter and Warren, were serving as people the younger ones could talk to if they had problems, kind of like makeshift mentors. Thea would spend a lot of time outside of the classroom talking to students who were struggling with questions they were having about the confusion and frustration they were feeling. She offered advice but no pity-fest.

Thea wasn't one to try to cheer people up, but luckily Kitty, Bobby, and Jubilee took up that front. They planned a lot of activities to keep the younger students busy outside of the classroom. These activities ranged from basketball games to movie nights to going to the local mall. Thea participated only because Kitty asked her to join the group.

With all this activity on behalf of the younger students, the makeshift mentors were in need of a break. Bobby came up with the idea of a relaxing night of poker.

"Are you ready?" Warren asked from Thea's doorway.

Thea looked up to see weird bindings across Warren's bare chest. "What is that?" she asked, pointing to the bindings.

"Oh," Warren said, turning around to show how the bindings pressed his wings to his back.

"Why are you strapping down your wings?" she asked. Wasn't it uncomfortable?

Warren looked uneasy. "It's getting cold here at night, so I can't prance around without any shirt on. The binding allows me to fit clothes over my wings," he explained. He raised a green long sleeve shirt Thea hadn't even noticed he was holding over his head and put it on. It went over his wings, and Thea could see the bottom of Warren's wings peak out from under the shirt.

Thea frowned. Warren seemed so trapped now. "Do you like doing that?" Thea asked.

Warren shrugged. "If it's between this and freezing my ass off, I choose this," he replied. "Now, are you done? Can we go down?"

Thea sighed, looking at her stack of homework papers she had graded. There was no excuse she could formulate. Warren was quite set on attending the poker night, and Thea was fine with that, telling him that she would read her fantasy novel. But Warren was also quite set on her being there. Previously she would not have entertained the idea of socializing with Bobby, Marie, Peter, and Kitty in a group setting, but Warren was incessant, and Thea found she had a hard time refusing his small requests.

"Yes, I'm ready," she said, slowly getting out of her chair and heading to the door where Warren was standing.

He looked so different with clothing hiding his wings and covering his chest. She had grown rather accustomed to seeing him bare-chested with his wings standing freely, and she admitted to herself that she enjoyed the sight. Perhaps during the daytime or when there was heating Warren would opt to not wear shirts. God, what was she thinking? Since when did she give a damn about what anyone wore or did not wear?

Warren and Thea went downstairs to see Kitty, Bobby, Marie, Peter, and Jubilee sitting around one of the large lounge tables. The group looked at them and everyone smiled but Jubilee.

"Hey guys," Warren greeted, taking an empty seat next to Jubilee on the sofa. Thea noticed that Jubilee smiled brightly at him. Did she like him or something?

Thea sat next to him, and Kitty was sitting across from her. Thea gave a meaningful stare asking why Jubilee was there, but Kitty had no answer for her.

"Hey, Warren. Thea, I'm glad you came," Bobby said warmly.

"Thanks," Thea said.

"So what kind of poker tonight?" Warren asked, looking at the group.

"Texas Hold'em," Peter replied.

"Cool!" Thea exclaimed. The group looked at her oddly, all but Kitty never seeing such emotion erupt from her.

"Ah take it you like the game?" Marie asked.

Thea smiled sheepishly. "Yes." She used to play in her freshman dorm at college.

"See, aren't you glad you came," Warren said as he nudged her side. She nudged back and saw that the others were looking oddly at the affection between them. She tried to not let it bother her.

"Shut up," she said to Warren.

Bobby stifled a laugh. "Everyone knows how to play, right?"

"I don't," Jubilee piped up.

"Oh, I'll teach you," Warren said helpfully. "Why don't we do a practice round so we can walk her through it?"

Everyone agreed.

What Thea found interesting was that Jubilee hadn't been in the original group of people Warren said would be hanging out tonight. That was one of the reasons why Thea agreed to come. And if Jubilee didn't even know how to play poker, why was she there? The first answer Thea came up with was that Jubilee liked Warren - she already smiled cutely at him. This answer bothered Thea because if Jubilee liked Warren, and Warren returned her feelings, it would make Thea's relationship with Warren a bit awkward.

Wait, this was stupid. Thea was already assuming way too much with the scenario, and it was silly to waste thoughts on matters that she had no control over anyways.

Jubilee caught on to the rules and procedures of playing the game quickly, and soon enough they were ready to begin official play.

"Five dollar buy-in?" Bobby asked.

The group agreed.

Peter, it turned out, was a Texas Hold'em shark, winning the first four games easily by just out-betting the other players. Thea was getting very bad hands, so she was folding right after seeing the first three communal cards, also known as the 'flop'. On the fifth hand, she had the Ace of clubs and the King of hearts. This was the best hand she had gotten so far, so she decided to stay in the game the whole way. Unfortunately, none of the communal cards could help her, and she was stuck with just an Ace high as her hand. Peter had laid down a hefty two-dollar bid, and everyone was folding. The bid got to Thea, and she raised the bid to three dollars, seeing if she could beat Peter at his own game.

"Ah'd be careful, Pete, this is the first time she's bettin.' She's gotta have somethin' good," Marie warned.

"She could be bluffing," Bobby supplied.

Peter looked at Thea, trying to assess whether or not Thea was bluffing. Unfortunately, Thea had a great poker face. Peter was getting frustrated, and his face showed it. Peter sighed dramatically and said, "Fold."

A lovely pile of poker chips went Thea's way.

"What did you have?" Kitty asked Thea as she shuffled the cards.

"You're not supposed to tell, Kit. It's part of the mystery," Thea replied with an easy smile.

"It's true. I don't know what is going on in that mind," Peter said, looking at Thea with a bit of admiration.

"A constant barrage of dirty thoughts," Warren teased.

The group laughed.

Thea narrowed her eyes at him. "No, Warren, you're confusing me with you, again," she said, feigning a sympathetic look.

Warren was about to retort, but instead became quite red. The group laughed harder, and Thea realized that she was having a really nice time.

"I'm going to get some water, anyone want anything?" Thea asked, getting up from the couch.

"Coke," Kitty said.

"_Filet mignon_, medium," Warren said with a charming smile. Thea rolled her eyes and saw Jubilee laugh and nudge Warren very much like how Thea had nudged him earlier. Warren nudged Jubilee back, and Thea was irked by that.

No one else but Kitty wanted anything from the kitchen, and Thea returned soon enough from her beverage expedition.

They played for another two hours, and Thea was having fun despite the noticeable flirting Jubilee was doing with Warren. Well, perhaps it wasn't noticeable. Whenever Warren folded his poker hand, Jubilee asked him questions about what she should do, and Warren would whisper his advice in her ear. The rest of the group allowed this only because it was Jubilee's first time playing the game. But to get his attention, Jubilee would rub his knee or tug on his shirt, motions Thea interpreted as flirtatious. Why couldn't Jubilee just talk to him?

But perhaps Thea was overreaching. Thea, for many reasons, did not like very much physical contact. She was rarely affectionate, and the only physical contact she and Warren engaged in were nudges and that one time he nearly tickled her to death. So, perhaps among other people, this type of physical contact was normal. Regardless, Thea decided not to think about it since it was none of her business.

When they decided to stop playing, Peter had won nine dollars, Bobby had broken even, Thea had won five dollars, and the rest of the group lost various amounts of money.

"Thanks a lot for inviting me to play," Thea said, as she helped clean up.

"Sure," Peter said.

"We'll let you know when we're planning another hang out session," Bobby said.

Thea smiled. "That would be great," she said.

Thea suddenly felt saddened that she hadn't spent very much time with the other older students. When she had arrived, she had not mentally been in a position to get out there and make friends. Kitty was the only exception, and Thea became friends with her only because Kitty had stuck around. Now, two years later, she realized that these people were good people that she should befriend. Better late than never, she supposed.

"Ready to go back up?" Warren asked her. It had been the first thing he addressed to her since his _filet mignon_ comment.

"Yeah," Thea replied.

"I'm glad you had a good time," Warren said as they climbed the stairs.

"Yeah, it was good that you dragged me out," Thea admitted.

Warren smiled.

"Did you have a good time?" Thea asked. She felt like it was weird to have to ask him this since she had been sitting next to him, but they hadn't really talked since his attention was on Jubilee.

Warren seemed to hesitate in his response. "Yeah," he said.

Thea decided against commenting on how Jubilee hogged Warren's attention because that would make it seem like she cared. And, of course, she didn't.

* * *

Warren shivered as he pulled a sweatshirt over his head and wings. It was pretty drafty in the mansion despite the central heating.

There was a knock on the door. When he went to open the door, he was surprised when he saw Thea had been the knocker.

"Hi," she said. This was the first time she ever approached his door.

"Hey," Warren said, trying not to sound off guard.

"Can I come in?" Thea asked.

"Oh! Yeah," Warren said, removing himself from the doorway to allow her to enter. He closed the door after her.

She looked around his room for a bit after setting down a paper bag she had been carrying. There was nothing terribly interesting about his room, and so her attention was directed at him once again.

"Take off your shirt," she commanded.

Warren's eyes bulged as his ears rung. What did she just say? Granted she had seen him plenty of time without a shirt on, but now she was asking for it? When did they enter the twilight zone?

"Huh?" Warren said weakly. Well that was a brilliant response.

"Take off your shirt," she said, slower this time.

Warren's mind was working so hard that he didn't even realize he was talking until he was done. "Look, I think you're beautiful, and I've thought about this before, but now is not the right time," he blurted out.

Thea's face paled as her mouth stood agape and her eyes wide with shock.

"Oh shit. I said that out loud," Warren said, covering his red face with his hands. How embarrassing! He was a twenty-three year old man! He should be able to control his mouth!

He dragged his hand down his face and looked at Thea. Her mind was quickly processing everything and she began laughing - hysterically. Warren smiled and laughed uneasily with her.

As she continued to laugh, Thea dug into her paper bag and pulled out some long sleeve shirts.

"I made you clothes," Thea explained, finally calming down. She showed him the front of a blue sweatshirt that looked normal and then turned the shirt around. Warren could see that the back was cut to fit his wings. Metallic snap buttons acted as the fastenings.

"Wow," Warren said, stepping closer to examine the clothing.

"It didn't seem like you liked having your wings bound, but that you thought it was necessary. So, I made it unnecessary," Thea said.

He needed to start giving her more credit. He had thought she was self-absorbed, but she picked up on his dislike for binding his wings easily and then did something for him.

He looked at the other clothes she had brought. Most were basic sweatshirts and long sleeve cotton shirts. There was one button down striped shirt for fancier occasion.

"Where did you get all these clothes?"

"When people leave here, they often leave behind things. I just found these in the closet," Thea explained. "If you like what I did, I can show you how to do it."

"Wow," he repeated. No one had ever taken the time to try to fit things around his wings. He always fitted his wings around things.

"So, you like it?" Thea asked uneasily.

Warren felt like a jerk. He never thanked her. "Yes! Thank you. No one's ever done something like this for me," he said admiringly.

He fingered the clothing gently.

"Am I going to have to take off your shirt for you?" Thea teased, obviously anxious to see how the clothes looked on him.

So the girl _could_ flirt when she wanted to.

He set the shirt down on the bed and lifted up his arms, motioning her to take off the shirt he was currently wearing. Thea rolled her eyes and grabbed the hem of his sweatshirt, pulling it up carefully over his wings and off his head. She frowned when she saw his bindings, and Warren realized she didn't like them either. Her warm fingers brushed against his chest as she unfastened the straps pressing his wings against his back. Her touch was gentle but firm, as always.

Warren thought the fact that she easily took off his shirt was a good sign. Not that she was attracted to him or something like that, but that she was finally comfortable around him. Whether she knew it or not, it seemed like she was beginning to trust him.

She pulled the remodeled sweatshirt over his head. The collar was the only place that it was still attached as normal. She explained that the hole went around the area his back connected with his wings. The snaps held the material in place underneath that area and his wings covered the snaps.

"You're a genius," Warren praised as he examined himself in the mirror. He had to admit that he looked pretty good with clothes on while his wings jutted proudly from his back.

Thea smirked. "About time you realized that," she said.

Warren laughed. "This looks great. Thanks. Can we do this to my other clothes? Maybe after dinner?" he asked.

"Sure," Thea said, gathering up her now-empty paper bag. She laughed to herself. "You're so full of it," she teased.

"What?" Warren asked stopping his self-inspection to look at her.

"I tell you take your shirt off, and you think I want to jump you," Thea explained amusedly.

"Oh, that," Warren said. He had hoped she had forgotten. "Sorry," he said awkwardly.

Thea shrugged. "For future reference though, if I want to jump you, I'll just do it," Thea said bluntly, folding up her paper bag.

Warren practically choked.

Thea smiled sweetly. "See you after dinner," she said breezily as she walked out the door.

What a flirt.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Thank you, thank you for all the wonderful reviews. You guys really make my day! This chapter is a bit more character development for Thea – a bit of jealousy, denial and flirtatiousness finally seeping through. She's a stubborn cookie with a lot of baggage, so it'll take a while before anything romantic could possibly happen. So, the pace of unraveling her and developing her relationship with Warren will be gradual. Anything else would seem unrealistic to me and hopefully you all agree. Thanks again for the reviews, and please let me know what you think! 


	8. Chapter 8

"I hate econ!" Kitty said despairingly as she ran through the wall into Thea's room a week later.

"So I take it you're not going to do well on your midterm tomorrow?" Thea said as she lay on her stomach on her bed, never taking her eyes off of her fantasy novel.

Kitty plopped herself next to Thea, and Thea tossed the book aside and turned her attention to Kitty.

"Can you please ask your boyfriend to make the test easy?" Kitty asked.

"He's not my boyfriend," Thea said quickly.

"Oh please! Like he wouldn't do anything you asked," Kitty said.

"He wouldn't," Thea said.

Kitty turned her head to look skeptically at her friend.

"Yesterday, he had the remote control and he was watching a car race on TV, and I asked if we could change it to basketball and he refused. I mean, c'mon, it was a bunch of cars going around a loop a lot of times. At least with basketball, there's more action," Thea supplied.

"Yeah, a bunch of tall guys running back and forth along a court a lot of times," Kitty countered.

Thea looked offended, but Kitty ignored it.

"Can we go back to the fact that I'm going to fail the test tomorrow?" Kitty said.

"Alright," Thea grumbled, still a bit peeved about Kitty's flippant comment about the sport Thea loved.

"I hate econ!" Kitty cried out again.

Thea cringed. "Saying that over and over again isn't going to get you a good grade."

"I know," Kitty replied miserably. "But asking Warren to make the test easier will," she added brightly.

Thea rolled her eyes. "We both know you don't really want that," she reasoned.

Kitty let out a frustrated sigh.

"Is Warren not explaining the material well?" Thea asked.

Kitty shook her head. "He's good, the stuff is just confusing," she said.

"Get your book and notes, maybe I can help," Thea said.

"You know econ?"

"I took macroeconomics while at Stanford. That's what you're learning, right?"

"Yeah."

"It's been a while, but I was okay at it then," Thea said.

"Meaning you got an A in the class," Kitty decoded.

"Just go get your stuff," Thea said, ignoring Kitty's comment.

After a few hours of studying things like supply and demand and opportunity costs, Thea and Kitty were sprawled on their backs on Thea's bed looking at the ceiling.

"So how are things with Bobby?" Thea asked, thoroughly exhausted from studying. She quickly remembered why she hadn't wanted to be an economics major. This stuff was hard and boring.

"It's getting easier. I'm getting over him," Kitty said.

"Yeah?"

"Uh huh. He's so happy with Rogue, er, Marie. And ever since she took the Cure, and they've been able to touch, he's been even happier. I…I'm not stupid and I'm not going to get in the way of that. I want a guy who wants me, not the guy who sees me as the little sister," Kitty reasoned.

"There are lots of good guys out there, Kit. I'm sure you'll find another one," Thea said.

"Warren's a good guy," Kitty segued not too subtly.

Thea laughed. "Okay."

"So what is going on with you two?" Kitty asked.

"We're friends," Thea replied.

Thea knew Warren's adamant nature was responsible for the creation of their friendship. But a friendship needed two people, so Thea was certainly doing something to maintain and develop that bond. She supposed steps like making clothes for him was an example. She hadn't meant to become close friends with Warren, but it was starting to happen anyway. She liked his company, and he made her laugh. She realized she looked forward to seeing him.

"That's it?"

"Yep."

"I don't believe you," Kitty said.

"I'm not surprised," Thea replied.

"Thea, I just don't want you to ignore something that's there because you're scared," Kitty said earnestly.

"Woah. Hold on. Nothing is there to ignore. And I'm not scared," Thea said.

"You're so full of shit," Kitty said passionately.

Thea laughed. Kitty rarely cursed, so when she did, it sounded awkward and amusing. Kitty glared at her, and Thea quieted.

"People have been talking about the two of you. They see something going on."

"No, they want to see something going on and so they do," Thea retorted.

"Poker night?" Kitty mentioned.

"What about poker night?" Thea asked.

"You guys were all flirty. And then Jubilee started taking up his attention, but he kept on sneaking glances at you," Kitty said.

Thea shrugged. "Whatever."

"I was sitting across from you. I saw the whole thing," Kitty insisted.

Thea couldn't help but feel a bit of pleasure from knowing that although Jubilee wanted his attention, Warren was still thinking about her. Unfortunately, she could not figure out if those feelings of pleasure were from the fact that Warren was thinking about her or because he was not thinking about Jubilee. Against her better judgment, she was leaning towards the former.

"Okay, Kit," Thea said.

"You're just scared to admit it," Kitty said.

"What's there to be scared about when there's nothing there?" Thea asked.

"Because there is something there. You ignoring it is the way you're gonna stay safe. I know you have trust issues…"

"Trust issues? That's what you call them?" Thea snapped angrily.

"Thea…"

"God, Kitty, I know I'm messed up, so I don't need you pointing it out to me," Thea said defensively.

"That's not what I meant and you know it," Kitty said. "I just don't want you to give up before you let anything happen because you're scared."

"I'm not giving up because there's nothing there to give up on," Thea said adamantly.

"Okay," Kitty said. Her tone indicated that she did not believe Thea for a moment.

Thea let out a frustrated sigh. She knew Kitty worried about her. "I'll be fine," Thea said dispassionately. "I'm always fine."

"I know," Kitty replied. "But I want you to be happy."

* * *

"God, can she be anymore smart?" Thea let out a frustrated sigh as she finished reading the essay.

"Who?"

"Jubilee. Another ridiculously good essay," Thea said admirably though a bit peeved with the younger girl's ability.

"You're her teacher. Shouldn't you be happy?" Warren asked.

"I am happy…about her work," Thea said. She stretched her arms and legs after staying too long in the same position on the chair.

Warren looked at her quizzically from his seat on her bed. "Jealous?"

Thea avoided the question. "I don't know why she's even in the class, she's already graduated," Thea said.

"Maybe she just likes the class," Warren supplied.

"But Professor X isn't teaching it anymore," Thea replied.

"Yeah, well, that says something about your teaching, right?" Warren said encouragingly.

Thea shrugged.

"Like you said, Jube's smart, she wouldn't be in the class if she didn't think it was worthwhile," Warren said, going back to grading his midterms.

_Jube?_ Since when did Warren have a nickname for Jubilee? Did Jubilee have a nickname for Warren. Was it _Warr_? Thea internally cringed and pushed aside those thoughts. Warren could call anyone anything he wanted.

Thea moved on to the next essay.

"So how come you and Jubilee don't like each other?" Warren asked.

"She's everything I'm not. I'm everything she's not."

"Do you want to be like her?" Warren asked cautiously.

Thea hesitated. "Sometimes," she confessed.

"Why?"

"She doesn't let things keep her down. She's bright, cheerful," Thea said.

"You want to be those things?" Warren asked skeptically.

Thea sighed in irritation. It seemed Warren thought she enjoyed being the way she was. "Yeah, who wouldn't? It just that some of us can't go back."

"You used to be like Jubilee?" Warren asked. His attention was not longer on his midterms but rather completely on Thea.

He could be so nosy. "Sorta," she replied.

"Before you came here?" Warren asked carefully.

Thea froze, not liking the direction this conversation was heading. "I don't want to talk about it," she muttered.

She heard Warren exhaled loudly with frustration. "I just wish you'd tell me things," he said in a very serious but quiet tone.

Sure he said that, but he wouldn't like what she had to say even if she had the guts to tell him. There was a heavy silence for a while as the pair returned to grading papers.

Warren finally broke the somber mood. "You wouldn't be you if you were like Jubilee," he said.

And just like that the mood was broken.

"That's the idea," Thea said with a smirk.

"I like you the way you are," Warren conceded.

Surprisingly, that meant a lot to Thea when just a few moments ago he seemed thoroughly frustrated with her. "And we both know you're weird," she replied.

Warren laughed. "I'm serious. There are lots of Jubilee's out there, and most of them are probably that cheerful because they're hiding something and scared people won't like them otherwise. But you don't waste your time pretending to be cheerful. I'd put good money down that you're one of a kind. That's definitely special."

Thea felt herself blush at Warren's compliment. Why did he have to be so nice? If she was honest with herself, she would say that she did pretend though. She pretended to be tougher than she was, and though perhaps it wasn't as flamboyant a disguise as being cheerful, it was still a front.

"Unique isn't always good. AIDS is unique, but it's not good," Thea pointed out.

Warren chuckled. "Okay, you have a point there. But in your case, I think it's good."

"And just because I'm the way I am doesn't mean I'm special. It just means that I can't deal with things as well as Jubilee can. If I could, I'd probably be more like her and then…"

"Althea," Warren said abruptly.

Thea stopped her rambling and looked up to see Warren leaning in his chair so that he was a bit closer to her than before.

"You think too much. Just take the compliment, okay?" Warren said simply.

Thea opened her mouth to say something, but didn't know what to say. She closed it and nodded, going back to grading her essays. However, she had a hard time concentrating because she felt really happy. Warren's compliment made her happy. It also made her feel stupid because being happy over what he said meant that what he said mattered to her, and it shouldn't have mattered.

"Done!" Warren said happily as he finished grading the last midterm.

"How did Kitty do?" Thea asked.

"She got a B," he said.

"Good, she was worried she was going to fail."

"Did you help her study?" Warren asked.

"Yeah, a bit," Thea said. "That's okay, right? You never talked about what you're teaching and what you put on the test, so I thought it would be okay."

"Yeah, it's fine," Warren said. "You're quite the Renaissance woman. You know econ, ethics, cooking, fighting, poker, fashion design for mutants…" Warren listed.

Thea laughed. "And you haven't seen my video gaming skills," she added.

"Video games? I would never have guessed."

"It's good for the aggression."

Warren laughed.

Thea finished grading the last of the essays about ten minutes later.

"So what was the topic this time?" Warren asked once she was done.

"The ethics of mutant experimentation," Thea said.

Warren frowned. "Wow. Touchy subject," he commented.

"Yeah."

"What do you think?" Warren asked curiously.

Thea hesitated. She didn't know what Warren's beliefs were. His father used Jimmy, a mutant, to successfully create the Cure, so did that mean Warren supported mutant experimentation? Then again, Warren rejected the Cure. But he could have done that while still supporting the means by which the Cure was achieved.

"I hate it," Thea said bluntly, figuring honesty was the best route.

"How come?" Warren asked.

Thea shifted uneasily. "Do you know Logan's story?" she asked.

"Sort of," Warren said. "The adamantium is from experimentation, right?"

"Exactly. He has no memory of his life before the experimentation began. He's haunted by nightmares. What they did to him…it's inexcusable. Many mutants have been exploited under experimentation, and personally I don't think it's worth the supposed benefits," Thea said.

"Like the Cure?" Warren asked.

Thea cringed. "Yeah. I'm glad Jimmy didn't suffer under your father. Your father seemed to go to great lengths to make him comfortable," she conceded.

"Yeah, Dad can be a lot of things, but he's not a monster," Warren said.

Not a monster? Thea almost burst out laughing at the statement, but caught herself quickly. If only he knew. But was it her place to tell Warren what his father had done to her? Did she even want to tell him?

If she were to tell him, he would react in either one of two ways. He would call her a liar and turn away from him. Or he would be terribly upset and turn away from his father. Either way, Warren would lose someone. And at this point, Thea had a feeling Warren would turn away from her. She wouldn't blame him for it – they had only known each other for three months and Dr. Worthington knew Warren for his entire lifetime. But Thea did not want it to ever get to that point where Warren would have to choose. The way to avoid that situation was to never tell Warren anything. Perhaps it was a bit deceitful, but at least Warren would come out unaffected.

"Althea?" Warren called out, trying to get her attention.

Thea snapped out of her thoughts. "Sorry," she said.

"It's alright," Warren said.

"So what do you think about mutant experimentation?" Thea asked.

Warren thought about it for a while. "I think it's alright if measures are taken to ensure the person's comfort and safety. There's all this talk that mutants might hold the cure for cancer or other diseases, and if that's the case, there's a debate to be had about what the responsibilities of that person is to society. But when people suffer, like Logan, that's when I think it's just…shit…I don't even have a word to describe it. How could someone do that to someone else?" Warren asked in disbelief.

Thea shrugged. "They thought the ends justified the means."

"That's just bullshit," Warren muttered in disgust.

Thea smiled at seeing Warren riled up over the topic. "You're a good guy," she praised.

Warren blushed a bit. "Well isn't this the night of compliments," he said.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Thanks SO much for the reviews! I'm glad people like Thea's characterization. I was really amused when one of you guys said she wasn't a Mary Sue. So I was looking up what exactly a "Mary-Sue" was on Wikipedia and DUDE, it's everything! I personally really like stories of triumph over hardship, but apparently that's Mary-Sueish. And giving a girl character a guy name is Mary-Sueish too. I love guy names for girls! Go figure. My philosophy is write what you wanna write, and if people wanna put you in a box for it, oh well. I got no control over that. I don't read too much fanfiction anymore actually because I write and like to read original fiction on fictionpress, so I can't recommend any other Warren fanfic since I don't really know any. Anyway, enough ramble. Thanks for the support! Please review and let me know what you think! 


	9. Chapter 9

"Althea," Warren said, spearing a carrot during dinner a few weeks later.

"Yeah?"

"Tell me something you've never told anyone else," he requested.

Thea scoffed. "Why? So you can feel more special than others?" she asked skeptically.

Warren let out a frustrated sigh. "No, because I want to know things about you."

"You want to know secret things about me," Thea clarified, before taking a bite of her hamburger.

Warren nodded confidently. "I think we've reached that point when we can tell secrets. Can you tell me a secret?"

Thea thought about this for a while as she continued eating her hamburger. She knew what Warren wanted to know about. He wanted to know why she was the way she was, what that traumatic event was. Well, another day perhaps.

"I hate asparagus," Thea said.

Warren's eyes widened with surprise. Clearly he had not expected such a response. "Asparagus?"

"Yep. It's crunchy and mushy at the same time. Why couldn't they just pick one: crunchy or mushy? And those little triangle purple leafy things on the stalk are just weird. It's got an awful taste too."

Warren laughed and shook his head. "Okay…but you know that's not what I meant," he said.

God, why couldn't he just let this go? She fidgeted under his gaze. She hated fidgeting, but she realized she did it quite often when Warren looked at her.

"Yeah," she said uncomfortably.

Warren waited for her to say something more. When he realized she wasn't going to say anything else, he leaned back in his chair and looked at her.

"I meant it when I said I want to be your real friend," Warren said carefully.

Thea kept her eyes off of Warren's face. "I know. But you have to understand that Kitty doesn't even know what you're asking me to tell you."

"Did she ever ask?" Warren asked.

"Yes."

Warren frowned.

"And just because you guys ask doesn't mean I can just do it," Thea snapped, her eyes guarded and cold as she looked at Warren. She realized she sounded like a petulant child.

Warren's frown deepened, and Thea wondered if she had offended him. She hadn't meant to. Warren looked sad and a bit disappointed. Was he disappointed in her? She hadn't meant that to happen either. Why the hell did she even care what he thought?

"Hi, guys, can I join you?" a cheerful voice rang out from Thea's thoughts.

"Hi, Jube," Warren said warmly, all hints that he was upset were gone from his face.

Clearly the sight of Jubilee just made Warren's day. Thea saw him smile at _Jube_ as he pulled out a chair for her to sit with her dinner.

"I was just leaving," Thea said, her voice empty even though she was feeling a mixture of emotions she didn't want to identify. She picked up her plate and headed to the kitchen without a second glance towards the table.

Warren watched her leave and shook his head ever so slightly.

"What's with her?" Jubilee asked.

"I think I made her mad," Warren said, picking at his food with his fork. He wasn't really very hungry anymore.

"I wouldn't worry about it," Jubilee said, stroking Warren's shoulder affectionately.

Of course he worried. He had been at the mansion for four months, and during that time Thea had slowly but surely opened up to him. She let him enter her life, albeit a bit reluctantly at first. But her past…it was like her past was locked away in one of those bulletproof briefcases used to store priceless art and the only one with the combination to get to it was Thea.

"She's always mad," Jubilee reasoned.

Warren shook his head, easily remembering times when she laughed, when he had made her happy. She wasn't always mad, but perhaps making people think that was easier than trying to explain her past. Everyone could just chalk up her behavior to the fact that she was an angry girl and never bother to delve deeper than that. Perhaps Thea liked it that way because it kept questions away.

And then Warren just had to asked questions. He was curious, he couldn't help it. He was curious about her.

Maybe with more time she would open up more. Or maybe her secrets would die with her. Warren didn't know, though he preferred to think that she would eventually let him in.

In the mean time, he had a brilliant idea.

"Sorry, Jube, I need to go," Warren said.

"Oh, that's okay, no worries," Jubilee replied with a big smile.

Warren liked her smile. "See ya around," he said, getting up quickly.

He took the now familiar route to his and Thea's hall. Knocking on her door and hearing her beckon the knocker in, he opened the door.

Thea was sprawled on her bed, reading another fantasy novel. How many of those did she go through a week?

She eyed him carefully. "Jubilee must eat fast," she commented.

"Huh? Oh, no, I excused myself," Warren said.

Thea's eyebrow quirked up. "Oh," she said casually.

"You wanna go for a ride?" Warren asked.

"You have a car?" Thea asked.

"Uh, fly, I meant fly," Warren clarified.

"You serious?" she asked, her eyes wide with surprise.

Warren smiled. "Yeah. C'mon," he said.

Thea leapt off her bed quickly, and Warren laughed at her enthusiasm.

"You never mentioned you wanted to fly," Warren said, as they made their way to the rooftop.

Thea shrugged. "Not my place," she replied.

Warren felt a twinge of guilt. Perhaps it wasn't his place to ask her about her past. She clearly wanted him to take her flying, but never asked. And while she didn't tell him anything about her past, she never asked him to tell her anything about his. He had to admit that she was fair.

Then again, perhaps she just didn't care about him and his past like he cared about hers. That was a morbid thought.

When they reached the rooftop, the sun had already set. The sky had lost its bright oranges to shadows of purples. Soon it would be dark.

"Is this going to work?" Thea asked, looking over the edge of the rooftop.

"Sure. I just need to carry you," Warren said confidently.

Thea gave Warren a skeptical look. "I'm heavier than I look. This," she said pointing to her thighs, "this is all muscle. None of that lightweight fat."

Warren laughed as he walked over to her, getting a bit into her personal space. "Just trust me," he said softly into her ear.

She looked at Warren warily, but nodded. That was a good sign, Warren thought. He leaned down to pick her up around the back of her knees with one arm, as the other one supported her back. Soon her feet were off the roof. Thea wasn't light, but she wasn't heavy either. In any case, she was much lighter than Warren's father.

Thea wrapped her arms around his neck, and Warren liked her nearness. Her body was at first stiff, but soon she relaxed a bit against his wool sweater they had remodeled together.

"See, easy," Warren said.

"And the flying part?" Thea asked, a twinge of uncertainty seeping into her voice.

"Just as easy," Warren assured. He walked to the edge of the rooftop. He could feel a small breeze, which would be good. "Ready?"

"Yeah." Warren felt her hold around his neck tighten. He couldn't help but smile.

He jumped off the roof, extended his wings, and flapped them a few times to gain altitude.

"Oh shit! Oh shit!" Thea screamed excitedly.

It felt like a rollercoaster but without that confined feeling against your chest from those annoying shoulder harnesses. The roar of air that attacked Thea's ears made her realize how fast they were going. Granted it wasn't very fast, but it was fast enough so that her eyes were drying out from the night air they were passing through. Her hair occasionally whipped her face stingingly, but honestly, she didn't care.

She was in the air! The ride was jostling at first because each flap of Warren's wings sent vibrations through his shoulders and arms, which eventually she felt. He picked up a few air currents so he didn't need to flap as frequently, and that made the ride significantly smoother.

She didn't feel weightless without a care in the world but instead felt very aware of her surroundings. Once the initial shock of being in the air was over, Thea realized her life was in Warren's arms, quite literally. She rather liked the idea of being on the brink of danger yet not stepping over the edge.

"Let go," Warren said loudly.

"What?" Thea asked.

"Let go," he repeated.

"I heard what you said the first time. I just think you're crazy," she said. She looked down to see they were flying over a well-forested area. Letting go over this stuff? She had no desire to fall and be impaled by a tree branch.

"I'm not. Do it," Warren said.

Thea thought about it for a moment. He sounded so damn commanding but his tone insinuated he was letting her in on a secret. She tentatively loosened her grip around his warm neck and eventually slid her hands down to rest on her lap.

Warren lowered his arm that was supported her back, so that now it was supporting the area right above the small of her back. The shift jarred Thea's balance. She felt like she was going to flip over and fall down the hundred feet or so they were above.

"Warren!" she screamed, scrabbling to grasp his neck again.

Warren laughed, probably very amused by her shrieking. "Lean back, you're okay, I've got you," he reassured.

She looked deeply into his eyes. His blue eyes held no trace of dishonesty but instead looked very confident and pretty. If she fell from his grip, she would scold herself on the way down for choosing to believe him because she thought his eyes were pretty.

Thea released Warren's neck once again and leaned back, waiting for him to tell her to stop leaning, but he didn't say anything until her back was literally parallel with the ground below.

"How's the view?" he asked her.

At first she thought he was talking about the view of his face as he leaned over her to speak. She was going to make an annoyed retort, but his face cleared from her view and instead she saw bunches of stars in the sky.

She wasn't much of a fan of stars, she didn't know any of the constellations besides Orion's Belt, but she had to admit that they looked nicer higher up. Above the lights from the cities that usually washed them out, the stars looked stronger - like something that should be acknowledged and admired rather than just a clichéd simile she heard too often in pop music. C'mon, no one's eyes looked like shining stars. And no girl was as brilliant as a star. In both instances, looking at the person would probably result in blindness.

"It'll do," Thea said carelessly, though the huge smile on her face indicated her true feelings.

Warren laughed and continued flying. Thea stretched her arms out, trusting her well-being to Warren completely. She continued to watch the sky's star composition shift as Warren flew. She even spotted Orion's Belt.

They flew around in silence for a long time. Her mind rested from its incessant thinking as she took in the stars' beauty. Thea hadn't known how long they were out there until she shivered. Her face and hands were freezing.

"You cold?" Warren asked, looking down.

Thea nodded. "Aren't you?"

Warren shrugged, which jostled Thea a bit in his arms. "No. Geez, Althea, how many times do I have to tell you that I'm part bird?" he answered with his usual cockiness. "Let's go back though."

He adjusted his arms and Thea moved so that she was grasping Warren's neck once again. The blood rushed from her head and she felt dizzy for a moment. She rested her forehead in the junction of Warren's shoulder and neck.

"Shit, you are cold," Warren said.

Thea chuckled. "Don't mind me as I leech off your warmth."

Warren grumbled but did not make a distinguishable reply. Thea nestled into that junction and closed her eyes. She could feel his heartbeat through her forehead, which was a bit odd. It was strong and steady and lulled her to relax.

Warren was good to her. Despite his annoying behavior and somewhat cocky nature, overall, he treated her very well. She couldn't deny that. But she denied everything else.

She cleared her head easily and dozed.

"Althea?" Warren said softly.

She opened her eyes. Only then did she realize the cold wind was no longer hitting her face and she did not feel the rhythmic flapping of Warren's wings beneath her fingertips.

"We're back."

Her heart sank a bit. That whole flying gig was pretty sweet.

"Oh," she said.

He lowered her to the ground, but she held onto his neck a little longer than she needed to. She knew this, and she wondered if he did. He gave no indication. She attributed her action to the fact that she hadn't been so close to a man in a long, long time, and Warren did reek of sexy after all.

"Thanks," she said quietly, rubbing her cold hands together. "That was…God…that was awesome," she gushed, unable to control her toothy smile. She hadn't felt that happy or that free or that peaceful since before she cared to remember.

Warren smiled and reached down for her hands. He placed them on the sides of his neck, covering them with his own hands to warm them. This was the first time he ever initiated any type of unnecessary physical contact with her, besides nudging.

"Glad you liked it," he said quietly. "I'm sorry about before, you know. I mean to pry, but only because…"

Thea had a hard time processing his words because the feeling of his warm neck and hands sandwiching her small hands was distracting. She could easily pull away, she should theoretically pull away, but she didn't want to.

"Because…" Thea prompted after a long pause.

"Well, you know…I care," Warren said ineloquently.

Thea knew she should scoff at him and make some sort of sarcastic comment about him being an idiot for saying something like that. Maybe it was the stereotypical romantic setting of a rooftop at night under hypnotic stars, or the uncertain tone of voice Warren had when he expressed his feelings, or the warmth that radiated from her hands and went straight to her cheeks, but Thea had no desire to make fun of him at that moment. Instead she wanted to confess things to him, secret things. Yep, somewhere along the line the mood shifted to one of comfortable nearness. This realization shocked and scared her.

So, she forced out a typical Thea response.

"Are you getting all touchy-feely on me now?" she asked, a sarcastic edge to her voice that, to her, sounded unnatural.

Warren laughed, and Thea could feel him swallow through her hands. "I'm already touching and feeling," he said in a smug tone.

And just like that things were back to normal.

She laughed and jerked her warm hands away from him. He let go easily and she swatted him playfully on the shoulder. He laughed loudly as she chased him into the mansion.

* * *

Author's Note: Thanks so much for all the support, again! Your generous comments make me so happy that I blush! I'm glad you like the gradualness and that you guys are so pumped at seeing updates. It's more than I expected or could ever ask for. I'm going to be gone for a week, so I won't be updating during that time, which is why I posted this chapter so quickly. I hope you like it! Please review and let me know what you think. And as always, thanks! 


	10. Chapter 10

"You can't be serious!" Thea exclaimed in the middle of the hallway. She and Warren were on their way back from dinner when Warren told her he would be joining the X-Men on their mission that night.

There was a mutant wreaking havoc on Chicago. Apparently he could control the four elements – earth, fire, wind, water. He called himself the Great Father. It was a terrible name, in Thea's opinion, but the Great Father was playing off of Mother Nature. But the name 'Father Nature' sounded pretty stupid and not very threatening. But honestly, 'Great Father'? How arrogant can someone be? Seeing as how Magneto was out of the picture, this deranged evil-doer decided it was now his time to shine. He had cultivated a following of less powerful mutants and was putting Chicago under siege, taunting the crippled X-Men to come and fight him and his minions this lovely holiday season.

A bunch of students stared at Thea's outburst. They all knew she wasn't a very passionate person unless she was about to start a fight.

"I'm going," Warren said adamantly.

"You're an idiot! The last time you went out you got so hurt!" Thea shouted.

"I've had training now," Warren countered.

"You've been here for five months! You have a little more than four months of X-Men training. Everyone else has had at least a year!" Thea yelled.

"I'm good! The X-Men need all the help they can get. Hank is gone! Marie is gone!" Warren shouted back.

Thea knew he had a point. Hank was the UN Ambassador now. Marie, after taking the Cure, was no longer able to be an X-Man, though she still lived at the mansion and helped out.

"This Great Father jackass could burn you, drown you, suffocate you, or bury you, and what are you going to do? Fly away?" Thea ask scathingly.

"I don't need to defend my choices to you of all people," Warren attacked.

Thea felt the sting of those words, but if Warren was going to go there, he might as well go there all the way. "What is that supposed to mean?" she spat out.

"You have quite possibly the most precious mutation there is. And you don't do shit about it! And when you do something, you feel bad? Shit, Althea! You should be out there, with the X-Men, saving people, not holed up in here bringing flowers back to life," Warren said angrily.

"Shut the fuck up! You don't know me!" Thea cried out. His words were too familiar because they were the same words she said to herself all the time.

"You're right, I don't! Because you can't stand the idea of letting me close to you!" Warren said frustratingly.

God, why did he make her sound so awful?

"Don't put this on me. You can't stand the idea that you haven't achieved whatever your next challenge was regarding me! What was it? Make her tell you her tragic past? Make her reveal why the hell she's so fucked up? Make her trust you completely?" she attacked.

Warren looked at her disbelievingly. "You are so wrong it's pathetic. I'm not the bad guy here," he retorted angrily.

Thea backed away. She glanced fleetingly at the rainbow holiday lights twinkling cheerfully from the walls. Christmas was just a few weeks away, but there was nothing Thea was cheerful about at the moment. Holidays sucked.

"No, you're not," she admitted. The bad guy was herself, her own demons.

Warren was breathing heavily but not saying anything. His blue eyes were cold and his stance was formidable. He looked furious.

"Go ahead, Angel, go out there, fight the bad guy, be the hero. Be the person I can never be. Get your ass kicked or come out unscathed…whatever," Thea said, no longer shouting. Her voice, instead, sounded empty and resigned.

She ran past him and towards her room. She didn't stop until she had closed the door behind her and collapsed onto her bed.

Thea wasn't really surprised by what he had said. To be honest, she had been waiting for him to open his eyes and realize she wasn't worth the effort he put in to being her friend. There were things about her he would never know, and if he couldn't deal with that, then oh well.

It wasn't even like he would be at an emotional loss. She wasn't a very good friend, and she knew that. Sure, okay, she made him clothes. Big whoop-dee-doo. He chose to spend his time with her. He got her to socialize with the other students. He took her flying. He had been a much better friend to her than she had been to him. If their friendship ended because of this fight, it would be her loss, not his.

Her loss. To lose something meant that you had it in the first place and that you cared about it. She hadn't meant to care about him or his friendship. But somewhere along the line, he made her care about him. A lot. She hadn't meant to let him get to her, to let him inside, but he had gotten in regardless. Damn him for that.

She wondered if he was upset at that moment. It was bad to enter a fight mad. He could lose concentration because of the anger, and that could lead to injuries. Or death.

Thea tore out of her room and ran like a mad woman to the elevator. She pressed the button impatiently as she waited for the elevator to arrive. When it finally did, she got inside and pressed the button to get to the lower level numerous times, as though pressing the button more meant that she would get there faster. She ran through the curved hallway to the plane room, only to arrive just as the door was closing. The space was too small for her to slip through, so she tried to stop it from closing but to no avail. Hearing the roar of the engine, she caught a glimpse of the plane rising through the opening in the basketball court. Then the door closed completely.

She was too late.

* * *

"You alright, man?" Bobby asked Warren as the X-Men flew back to the mansion.

The Great Father was no longer great. But Warren had to admit that Chicago looked pretty bad when they had arrived. The people there would be having a very difficult holiday season.

The Great Father had torn up the streets and trapped a lot of people in overturned buses that his mutant minions circled dangerously. The X-Men had arrived, havoc ensued, and eventually Wolverine got close enough to the Great Father to shove his claws through the mutant's heart. Warren had focused on getting the people out of the buses by flying them to the rooftops of nearby buildings. He got into a few confrontations with mutants along the way, and though he had been in danger, he handled it well. Training had taught him to anticipate and to react quickly.

Warren shrugged at Bobby's question.

"You did a great job back there, but you seemed a bit off," Bobby continued.

"I got into a fight with Thea before we left," Warren said.

"Oh," Bobby replied. "Over what?"

"She didn't want me to go to Chicago," Warren said.

"I see," Bobby said, a smile on his face.

Warren looked at him critically. "What do you see?"

"She cares about you," Bobby said simply.

Warren scoffed. "That'll be the day," he muttered. A month ago he had told her, albeit rather haphazardly, that he cared about her. And although he didn't want some sort of declaration of undying love – that would have been scary – a little acknowledgment of feelings on her part would have been nice. Then again, the openness and glowing happiness he saw in her eyes when they landed after the flight was a pretty damn good consolation.

"She does," Bobby insisted. "Why else would she fight?"

Bobby had a point. Sometimes it did seem like Thea cared about Warren's well-being. She made him clothes, didn't she? But she was just so closed off most of the time that Warren could never tell where her true feelings laid.

"I'm impressed that you're friends with her," Bobby said.

"Why?"

"Well, when I first met you, I thought you were cool. But you come from a really privileged background, so I thought that would make you want everything your way," Bobby explained.

"I kind of do what things my way," Warren conceded. He wanted to know about her past, and he wanted her to tell him. But she wasn't saying anything. Thus the frustration.

"But with Thea, you're not going to go anywhere unless it's her way."

Warren looked at Bobby skeptically. "You think I want to go somewhere with Thea?"

Bobby laughed at this point. "I'm not blind," he replied.

Warren didn't have a response to that. Sure he thought about his relationship with Thea escalating. He even stupidly admitted it to her. She was a pretty girl; and she was strong-willed, opinionated but uncertain and closed off as well. It was all very intriguing. Certainly he had thought about how that would translate in a physical relationship. But that didn't mean he wanted one. Getting involved with friends was very tricky, and getting involved with a friend like Thea would be even trickier. He had no idea what would hurt her because she seemed so unfazed by everything. He didn't want to unknowingly hurt her, and getting physically involved with her would result in more chances of doing just that.

Bobby was right. If things were to go anywhere, it would be on Thea's terms. Assuming, of course, Warren wanted it to go somewhere and she wanted it to go somewhere. And those were two big assumptions.

The plane finally landed and Warren got out. He stretched he wings and his back out after being confined in the seat.

"I'm so ready for a shower. You?" Kitty said, her voice sounding distant due to the height of the plane room. Warren turned his head back to see if she was addressing him, but it turned out she was talking to Peter.

"Is that an invitation?" Peter asked flirtatiously.

Warren caught sight of Kitty blushing before turning his head back. He wondered how Thea would feel about something going on between Kitty and Peter. Thea was quite protective of her younger friend.

There he was, thinking about Thea again. Their fight rang through his ears as he made his way to the changing room. He had said some pretty mean things, but she had as well. He also hated fighting with girls. Girls had such amazing ways of manipulating the conversation so that whatever the guy said when he apologized, he sounded like an asshole. He had no clue how he was going to do damage control.

He got out of the X-Men uniform Storm had gotten tailored specifically for him. It was modeled off of the shirts Thea had made for him, but the snaps were replaced with a sturdy zipper. The rush of cool air that hit his chest once he was out of the uniform made him shiver. He pulled on his jeans and inspected his body for any wounds. His abdomen was sporting a large bruise from one of the punches a mutant had nailed him with. Even though the X-Men uniform provided a bit of protection, the bruise was a sickly yellow-green color. By tomorrow it would be purple. Other than that, he looked okay. He hadn't fought much anyways.

Soon he walked back to his room and he thought about his fight with Thea more.

Perhaps he would go see her after his shower. It was a little past one in the morning, but Thea liked staying up late. It was probably best to settle the fight before going to bed and letting it fester.

As he opened the door to his room, he saw that the light was on and Thea was sitting at the edge of his bed. Her face had been in her hands as she crouched over in a defeated position just before she raised her head to see his entrance.

He knew shock was evident on his face because he was feeling it. How did she get in? Oh, yeah, he hadn't locked it. But that was beside the point. What was she doing in his room?

She rose from her seat on his bed and tucked her hair nervously behind her ears. Her eyes held relief and uncertainty.

Warren wanted to say something, but he didn't know what to say, and she looked like she wanted to say something. She opened her mouth to speak, but words weren't coming out. Looking away, she tried to speak again, but still there were no sounds. Thea closed her eyes and frowned. It looked like she was scolding herself. She quickly brushed by him and fled out the door.

What the hell…Warren thought. Had she been worried about him? He remembered she had waited in the hallway while Kitty and the rest of them went to Alcatraz because she had been so worried over Kitty. So, chances are, she had been worried about him now. And if she worried, that meant she cared. Right? He smiled at the thought. But that was exactly what it was, just a thought.

He wanted to know.

Turning a little awkwardly towards the door, the bruise on his torso sent a pulse of ache through his stomach and chest. Recovering quickly, he went to the room diagonally from his and opened it without knocking.

"Listen, we need to…" he said before he heard a screech and looked towards it. Naturally he had to catch Thea as she was changing clothes for bed. And naturally he just had to look towards her upon hearing the weird sound, which apparently had sprung from her throat, to see that she was clad in pink and black striped underwear and a flesh colored bra. And just naturally he had to continue to stare like a teenage boy at the scantly clad woman because honestly, she had really nice curves and a very perky…

"Warren!" she shouted in that high pitched voice Warren didn't even know she possessed as she scrabbled to cover herself with something from the chest of drawers she was standing in front of.

All she pulled out were socks.

"Shit!" Warren said, looking away, knowing full well Thea saw him staring unabashedly at her figure. And over a month ago he was telling her he thought about having sex with her. Great…what luck. Couldn't the Powers That Be give him just one _measly iota_ of tact when it came to this girl? Apparently not.

"Stay there," she ordered, her voice now resuming its normal register.

Warren could hear her rustle as she pulled on shorts and a shirt.

"Okay," she mumbled.

He turned towards her to see she was wearing red cotton shorts and an oversized black shirt that said something about Australia.

"I'm sorry. You were just there," he stammered, pointing in the general direction of his room, "and so I thought, you know, I just…shit…sorry," he finished lamely.

She settled on her bed and shrugged. "Whatever," she said, but her tone was not as blasé as it normally was and her cheeks were quite red. His were too probably.

"I just…um…I just wanted to know why you were in there," he said, finally able to speak.

She shrugged again and did not look at him. "I take it the fighting went well?" she asked, her attention focused on picking at the fuzz on her bed's comforter.

Warren sighed with frustration. "Why can't I ever get a straight answer out of you?" he asked heatedly. It was strange how quickly the mood changed from awkwardness to anger.

"You didn't ask a question," she retorted quickly.

He could feel himself getting mad. Was she baiting him for another fight? "The fight went well. Wolverine killed that Great Father guy. Why were you in my room?" he asked, hoping his tone was calm and not too forced.

"I just wanted to be there," she said. "I'm sorry if you left here upset. It was stupid of me to upset you before you went out."

Warren wanted to sit next to her on the bed, but he figured he was a bit too sweaty and sticky and dirty for that. He settled for the chair. He tried to sit up as straight as possible to avoid putting pressure on the bruise.

"Don't worry about it," he said.

The mood was still tense, and they hadn't even talked about the fight yet.

"Can't help it," she said back, looking up to meet his eyes briefly before returning her attention to the comforter.

Warren's lips quirked up. So she did care. "So why did you want to be in my room?" he asked.

She slapped the comforter. "You just don't let up, do you?" she said, her voice edgy.

"No."

"You know this is hard for me. You keep on pushing and pushing and that doesn't make me want to push back at all," she said evenly, looking at him with sharp eyes.

"I just want to know," he said.

There was a long silence as Thea stared off. She was thinking hard about something because her brow was creased and her eyes were distant.

"Do you really want to know a secret I never told anyone?" Thea asked.

Warren didn't know where this was going, but he was curious, as always.

"Yes."

"Don't you think I want to tell you?" Thea asked quietly.

"What?" he asked, thoroughly confused.

"Do you think I like always avoiding your questions? Do you think I like hearing that you care about me and not say anything back?" she asked.

"I…I don't know," he said truthfully.

"Earlier today you said that I can't stand the idea of letting you get close to me. But that's not it. I like the idea," she revealed.

Woah, Warren hadn't expected that. "Really?" he asked. He realized he was sounding stupider by the second.

"Yeah. But I just…can't." She snorted and looked actually embarrassed. "I'm messed up, Warren. Jubilee might pretend to be cheerful, but I pretend to be okay when it is glaringly obvious that I'm not. With you, I feel better than okay. I feel…good. And when you ask your questions and expect answers, it reminds me that I'm not okay, that I can't do something as simple as answer a question."

He shifted clumsily onto his knees in front of her. Wow, he really hadn't expected that kind of response.

"I'm sorry," he said.

He had no idea that was what she had thought. He had assumed that Thea was just the closed off type, the type who didn't want to tell secrets because that made her vulnerable. But, instead, Thea wanted to tell him things and was frustrated by the fact that she just couldn't let herself.

Thea shook her head adamantly. Warren was shocked to see her eyes watering though no tears fell. "It's not your fault, it's mine. _I'm_ sorry. But if you expect that if you stick around long enough, you'll find out all my secrets, you're going to be severely disappointed. And I don't want to disappoint you," she said.

Warren felt ashamed. He was an asshole for pushing her to tell him secrets, thinking it was just some kind of game that eventually he would win with enough time. He didn't know what this was, but this wasn't a game.

"You won't disappointment me," he said comfortingly.

She scoffed.

"I didn't even expect us to be friends at all. All expectations have been exceeded. So you won't disappoint me," Warren said encouragingly.

Thea laughed. "Really?"

Warren nodded. "Yeah. You were so annoyed with me in the beginning, I didn't think I'd wear you down," he admitted.

A slow smile spread over Thea's lips. With her eyes shimmering from the unshed tears and her lips curved up, she looked almost soft. Warren hadn't realized she could look so soft.

"I reward tenacity," she said jokingly, her smile turning into a sarcastic grin. She no longer looked soft, and Warren didn't know if he missed that look or was relieved to see they were heading towards normalcy.

"I'll keep that in mind," he replied easily. "I should take a shower," he added absently.

"Oh yeah, you're rank," Thea stated.

Warren laughed. "Well, aren't you sweet?" he said. Suddenly he sprang from his position on the floor and wrapped his arms around Thea, lightly tackling her down onto her bed.

"Warren! I'm going to bed. Now I smell like stinky Warren!" she shrieked like she did when he saw her scantily clad body. She struggled in his grasp, but he continued to hold her tightly.

"Geez, your voice can get so high," Warren complained, wincing.

"In case you haven't noticed, I am a girl," Thea retorted. "Girls have high voices."

Warren couldn't help but smirk at the opening she gave him to make lewd comments. He shifted so that he now hovered over her with his arms balancing himself on either side of her head. "Of course I notice. You gave me quite a show earlier," he teased.

Thea's mouth dropped open at the comment and her eyes hardened. She punched him hard, but not too hard, in the gut. "Jerk," she muttered.

Pain shot through Warren's body since her punch landed mostly over the bruise he already had on his abdomen. He body practically crumpled over her as he grunted in pain."Warren?" she asked concernedly. One of her hands supported his weight on his shoulder. The other hand trailed down his sticky chest pressing delicately around until she found the spot where she had punched him. She saw the bruise. "God, I hadn't noticed that," she said, surprised and upset. She lightly touched the bruise and though he knew it was to assess the injury, Warren found himself wishing there was more to it than that.

"Yeah, you were just checking me out before," he teased, now able to support his own weight as he hovered over her.

"Don't make me punch you again," she warned, making a fist against his bruise for emphasis.

"Okay, okay," he acquiesced.

She hand flattened out onto his torso, and her attention was on his minor injury once again. "I can heal it," she said softly.

He was really trying hard to concentrate on the conversation rather than her small, warm hand on his stomach. When he thought about it, it really said something that she offered to heal him. It wasn't a life threatening injury, they both knew how she usually got after she healed people, and yet she still offered.

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I should keep the bruise as a reminder of what happens when I go off trying play hero," he said.

Thea laughed and pushed him, signaling that he should get off of her. "Fair enough. Go shower. And don't come back in here because I have to change out of these clothes you made smelly," she said sternly.

Warren got off reluctantly. Without the pressure of her hand on his stomach, he felt like something was missing. When did he turn into such a sap?

"Do I really have to miss the second show?" he asked teasingly.

Thea glared at him warningly and he knew he should get out while he still had all his limbs properly attached.

He sighed dramatically. "Fine," he said. He made his way out of her room and back to his own to get ready for a cold shower.

* * *

Author's note: Here's a super-sized chapter! I figure since I've been away for a week, I should make up for it with this long chapter. This chapter was a lot of fun to write, esp. the seeing-Thea-nearly-naked part. Although Thea has now realized that she cares about Warren, she never did say it. Also, if you expect kissing or other non-friendly physical contact between Warren and Thea to come up soon, you'll be disappointed, but they are getting more physical. Anyway, thanks for the support and all the lovely reviews! You guys telling me I need to update soon for the sake of your sanity is very flattering, I have to say. Hopefully I haven't made you guys go insane…yet. ) Thanks again, please review! 


	11. Chapter 11

Unsurprisingly, the cheeriness of the holiday season did not infect Thea. Kitty wrapped herself up in the holiday spirit and was in a buying frenzy. She asked Thea to accompany her to the nearby mall. Thea only agreed because going meant she got to drive one of the mansion's sports cars to the mall.

"Don't you want to buy something for Warren? For me?" Kitty asked as they walked around the mall that had sparkling lights, fake fluffy snow, Christmas trees, and fat Santa Clauses everywhere.

Thea laughed. "I already have your gift," she said. "And as for Warren…what can you buy the guy who has enough money to buy anything for himself?"

"It's the thought that matters, though, right?" Kitty said encouragingly as they looked through yet another clothing store. Kitty wanted to buy Marie a warm, light-colored sweater to offset all the dark colors she usually wore.

Thea shrugged as she picked unenthusiastically through the sales rack of tops. "I suppose. But I'm pretty broke, so I really can't buy anything that won't be tacky. I thought about making something, but I have no artistic skills beyond cutting clothes up. And, so now I'm stuck," she explained.

"You really did think this through," Kitty said with a smirk.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Thea asked, a defensive note in her tone.

"In the past two Christmases, you have never thought about what to give someone," Kitty said. "Besides me," she added loftily.

Thea laughed. "You feeling like your position in my life is threatened?"

"Oh no," Kitty said. She held up a mint green sweater and then made a face. "I can't see Marie in that." She placed it unceremoniously back onto the display. "My position in your life does not include sexual tension and eventual hooking up, so I am feeling very unthreatened," Kitty said with a huge smile.

"What?" Thea said loudly. A few other customers looked up from their bargain hunting to see what the commotion was, but seeing nothing special, they quickly resumed their shopping. They only had a few days until Christmas, so there was no time to waste staring at a loud girl.

"Oh please, we are not having a repeat of the 'Thea likes Warren but is too afraid to even admit the existence of a Thea-and-Warren' conversation," Kitty said, now examining a light blue sweater. "I like this color," she mumbled.

Thea ignored Kitty's feigned preoccupation with the sweater. "I don't like Warren, not in the way you're implying. And there will be no hooking up," she stated assertively.

"But you can't deny the sexual tension," Kitty pointed out.

Okay, fine, she couldn't, but that didn't mean anything. "There's sexual tension between you and Peter," Thea countered. She had seen how the two looked at each other, there was no denying it.

"Yeah, but I know I like him," Kitty pointed out.

Thea's eyes noticeably enlarged. "When did this happen?" she asked.

Kitty usually ran through her room to tell her about her crushes or, more recently, about her angsty thoughts regarding her unrequited feelings towards Bobby. Although Thea knew that Kitty was getting over Bobby, she had no idea that Kitty had developed feelings for Peter.

"Maybe a week ago," Kitty said. "He's so nice, Thea. Does all that gentlemanly stuff like opening doors and pulling out chairs. We went out to dinner and he paid for me."

"Wait, what? When did you guys go on a date? Why didn't you tell me? Where was I?" Thea asked, each question getting louder than the last.

Kitty smiled at her friend's concern. "You've been a bit busy with Warren. You spend like every possible moment with him, so we really haven't been able to talk about stuff. We went on the date three days ago, but we didn't call it a date. It was more casual than that, but Thea, seriously, I like him."

"What about Bobby?"

Kitty shrugged. "Bobby's great, amazing actually, but it's not meant to work out. I know that. And this thing with Peter, if I can even call it a thing, it's just so…great," Kitty said.

"So you don't know if Peter likes you?"

"I think he does, but he hasn't said anything," Kitty explained.

Thea breathed in and out. "Wow. I totally missed out on that entire event," she said.

Kitty shrugged. "It's okay. Warren's awesome and you should spend time with him."

"But not to the point that I miss out on stuff in your life, Kit. I mean, c'mon, you had a date with Peter and I didn't know about it! I mean, God, it's like I'm spending my time as though I'm in a relationship without all the physical benefits," Thea said, disgusted with herself.

Kitty laughed. "You are. I mean, girlfriends have this conversation we're having right now when one of them is in a relationship. Imagine what will happen when you and Warren actually do get together," she commented.

"What? No, not happening. What's going to happen is that I'm going to spend less time with him," Thea said adamantly.

The scary thing was that Thea hadn't even realized that she was spending so much time with Warren to the exclusion of quality time with Kitty. Ever since the fight and subsequent talk, her relationship with Warren had improved dramatically. Warren no longer pressed her for information about her past, and she no longer felt the pressure to tell him things. It was like this huge weight had vanished from their relationship, and they were now able to just hang out and learn the little things about each other freely. The feeling was nice and perhaps a bit addicting.

"No, instead you should just jump him already," Kitty said, alluding to the story Thea had told her about Warren's sex blunder.

Thea laughed. "No."

"You don't want to?" Kitty asked skeptically.

She'd be lying is she said she hadn't thought about their relationship going to a higher level. It was a thought bound to occur when you were close friends with a guy, right? But thoughts did not necessarily translate into wants. Did she want their relationship to go further? Hell no. Too many complications would follow. Any physical encounter would imply a real boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, and Thea was in no position to give Warren the kind of relationship he deserved – a functional one.

"Awfully quiet," Kitty commented.

Thea snapped out of her thoughts. "I don't want to," she said. "I'd make an awful girlfriend."

"Girlfriend? I was just talking about something to, you know, get rid of the sexual tension between you two," Kitty said.

Thea gave Kitty a skeptical look. "It couldn't be a fuck and fly type of thing, Kit. You know I'm not like that," Thea said bluntly.

"What about a really long make-out session?" Kitty asked.

Thea laughed. "No, not happening. Once you cross that friendship line, there's no going back. It's always awkward and I don't want to deal with that."

"You do realize that this conversation proves you like the guy, right? I know you well enough to know you wouldn't even entertain thoughts about doing anything physical if you didn't even like the guy," Kitty pointed out rather smugly.

Thea was about to retort, but she knew that Kitty had a point. Perhaps she did harbor _slightly _more than friendly feelings towards Warren, but that didn't change anything. It wasn't as though she was yearning for him to have similar feelings towards her. And it certainly wasn't as though she would act on these little feelings, if it turned out she actually had them.

"Whatever," Thea mumbled.

Kitty smiled widely and continued shopping.

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"So I was planning on visiting my dad today," Warren said as he helped Thea cook Christmas Eve lunch for the students who were staying at the mansion for the holidays.

Thea could actually feel the blood draining from her face. She had no idea that was actually possible.

"Oh?" she replied, trying to keep her voice level.

"Yeah. I haven't seen him since Alcatraz and we really haven't spoken about things. And since it's the holidays, I figured I should, you know, see him. He's family," Warren said, a mixture of hope and skepticism in his voice.

"Well, that's really good of you," Thea said.

"I was thinking I'd go there today, fly back tonight, and then spend Christmas day here," Warren explained.

"Is that too much flying in such a short time?" she asked, as she stirred the split pea soup she was making.

Warren tossed the carrots he had chopped into the pot. "No, I'll be fine. I wanted to ask, though, if you'd come with me."

Thea lost grip of the spoon she was using to stir the soup, and it sank into the warm liquid. She preoccupied herself with fishing it out while thinking of a good excuse to give Warren to explain politely that there was no way in hell she was going with him. Unfortunately, she couldn't think of a good excuse. So, she settled on stalling.

"Why do you want me to come?" she asked, moving to the sink to wash the spoon. She was concerned her face would show her fear, so she kept her head low.

"Well, Dad hasn't met anyone from my new life. And I thought that if he was going to meet just one person, you'd be that person he should meet."

Thea felt herself blushing despite the awkward position Warren had unknowingly put her in. "That's really sweet, Warren, but I can't."

"Oh, how come?" he asked, obviously disappointed.

_Because there's no way in hell I'm ever going near your father ever again_, she thought. "Because I hate Christmas and I make poor company during the holidays, honestly. I suck at the schmoosing and small talk, and I wouldn't want my first impression to your father to be of this awful girl who shouldn't be anywhere near his son," she said.

"He wouldn't think that," Warren said adamantly.

_Oh, yes he would._ "No, really Warren, I can't go," Thea replied in a tone that implied finality on the topic.

Warren looked like he wanted to ask the real reason why, but decided not to. It seemed like he realized she just didn't want to tell him, and he was respecting that. Thea was relieved.

"Okay," Warren conceded. "Maybe next time?"

"We'll see," she replied vaguely.

Thea was flattered that he wanted his billionaire father to meet her, and she wished she could promise him that she would meet him. But she couldn't. She then realized that if Warren wanted her to meet his dad, eventually she would need to come clean about her past regarding his father. Warren was an adamant person, and he would continue to ask her to meet his dad. He might even bring his dad to the mansion, and Thea would be trapped into seeing that man again. And then what? Complete disaster. She pushed those thoughts aside. She would deal with that if and when the time came.

Warren left an hour later. Kitty and Peter were off one another pseudo date to an ice rink, and Thea was left to her own devices. She knew exactly what she wanted to do.

She went to her room, picked up the phone, and dialed the long sequence of numbers she had memorized. With the time difference, it was already Christmas morning over there.

It rang just a few times before a female voice said calmly, "Hello?"

"Hi, Mommy. Merry Christmas," Thea said, smiling gleefully at hearing her mother's voice.

"Baby! It's so good to hear from you! Hold on," her mother said.

Soon Thea heard a click and another familiar voice on the phone.

"Hi, Sweetheart," the deep rumbling voice said.

"Daddy! Hi," Thea gushed.

She would never let anyone know, but yes, she addressed her mother and father as Mommy and Daddy. It was an ode to her carefree childhood that she had no desire to stop.

She wished she was with them now so she could just talk to her parents face-to-face. She hadn't seen him in such a long time, and she missed them so much. Their images in her brain had not changed in the past two years, but she was certain they had. There was now this wide gap between her parents and her that was just getting wider and wider with time. But she rather they were far away from her and safe than nearby and in constant fear of Dr. Warren Worthington finding them.

"How are you doing? We haven't heard from you in a while," Thea's mother said.

"I know. I'm sorry. Things have gone to hell here," Thea said.

"We saw that fiasco at Alcatraz on the internet news. You weren't involved with that, were you?" her father asked concernedly.

"No, Daddy. I purposely didn't go because it was Worthington Labs."

"Good," her father replied.

"How is everything at the mansion?" her mother asked.

"Good. I've just finished teaching an Ethics class that Professor X had been teaching. It went really well, and Storm asked me to teach it again after the Winter holiday."

"Oh, that's great, sweetheart. It's good to keep that brain of yours working," her mother said.

Thea laughed. "Yeah. How's the weather over there?"

"Hot. You'd think after two years of living here we'd get used to the Decembers being hot and the Junes being cold, but it still needs adjusting to. But everything's quite nice. We'll probably take a weekend trip to Stradbroke after the New Year," her father said.

"That sounds great," Thea supported.

"How's Kitty? Have you met any new people?" her mothers asked.

Thea laughed. "Kitty's alright. She was so hung up on Bobby for a long time, but now she's interested in this guy named Peter. He's also known as Colossus because his body turns into steel," Thea explained.

"Wow, well, she sure likes guys who can change their consistencies," her father commented.

Thea laughed. "I never thought of it that way, but you're right."

"But have you made any new friends?" her mom pressed.

Thea hesitated before deciding to come clean. "Yeah, actually."

"Who?"

"Warren Worthington III," Thea replied. She held her breath as she waited for the reply.

There was silence on the other end of the line until her mom said, "That Angel kid?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Thea asked.

"Well, that clip of him jumping out of the building was the most watched clip on the internet. Honey, are you sure you know what you're doing?" her mom asked.

"He's an amazing person. He's nothing like his father, that's why he escaped. His father was going to force him to take The Cure, but he just couldn't. He came to the mansion for asylum and has been here ever since," Thea said quickly.

"We're just worried about your safety," her father said. "This is thin ice."

Hearing her father say that made Thea realize how right he was. She had become so involved in the friendship she had developed with Warren that somewhere along the way she had forgotten the risk to her safety and the safety of her family.

"You're right," she conceded.

"Perhaps you should stay away from this boy," her mother advised delicately.

Stay away from Warren? In the past few months he had become a fixture in her life, and she liked that very much. Stay away? How could she possibly do that?

"Honey?"

"I don't think I can," Thea said softly.

There was a pregnant silence on the other end until her mother finally asked, "Sweetheart, do you have feelings for him?"

Thea hesitated again. "No, no, of course not," she finally said.

In her mind, her feelings were not a separate identity from the consequences of those feelings. If she did not have feelings for Warren, that meant she was safe. If she did have feelings for Warren, she was too close, and the unforeseeable consequences of such feelings outweighed Thea's desire to have those feelings.

However, Thea was working off of the assumption that she could make conscious decisions about how she felt.

"You don't sound very sure," her mother said.

Damn that motherly intuition.

"I am, really. Having feelings would be stupid and dangerous. It's just…we're close friends and I do…I care about him," she said. It was the first time she ever said the words out loud, and saying them at that point felt out of place. She realized she should be telling him those words, not her parents.

"Look, if you have more than friendly feelings for him, you should just go for it," her father said bluntly.

"Daddy…"

"No, you listen. We've been living low for two years now, and nothing's happened. Worthington got his Cure now, without you. He's made his millions, he's gotten the fame, and he's probably moved on. Don't use us as an excuse for not going after something if you want it," he said adamantly.

"If something happened to you guys…" Thea began.

"Nothing will happen if you tell that Warren-Angel kid what a bastard his father is," her father said. "If Warren is as great as you say he is, he'd make sure his father wouldn't hurt anyone else."

"Worthington doesn't deserve to walk on this earth, but he's still Warren's father. That would be making him choose between me and him," Thea said.

"It's not a hard choice," her mother pointed out.

"Some bonds are thicker than blood," her father said.

But Thea didn't know if her bond with Warren was.

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**Author's Note** (too long!): If the format is weird, I apologize. The editing feature on the website is not working properly. I've increased the story's rating to M for present language and for future subject matters.

Thanks for the reviews. I want to address some of the topics brought up in the reviews: When I was researching for this story, I did find out that the comic book character of Angel (when he was Archangel) recently acquired the ability to heal, but seeing as the movie did not go into Angel's transformation in Archangel and all subsequent stuff, I'm assuming that the character in the movie (and by extension the Warren I've created) is Angel, not Archangel, and thus does not have the ability to heal. I hadn't known that Archangel could heal when I started brainstorming this story, so it's a really interesting coincidence.

Also, the climax of the story will not be Thea and Warren getting together, just a warning.

And in chapter 4, when Thea commented on the wrong person dying, she was saying that instead of using the Cure on Magneto and killing Jean Grey, the X-Men should have killed Magneto (since she thought being human was a fate worse than death in Magneto's eyes) and used the Cure on Jean Grey. Granted she had no right to say such things since she wasn't there, but she never meant that Magneto should have lived as a mutant. Sorry if that was confusing.

I know there are a lot of readers out there who don't review, and I appreciate you taking the time out to read my story, but if you could drop a line and tell me what you think, that will be great. To all those who review EVERY single chapter, all I can say is: WOW, YOU ROCK MY WORLD. Please let me know what you think, I like reading your suggestions and comments a lot. Thanks!


	12. Chapter 12

It wasn't as though Warren expected his father to welcome him with open arms and tell him he loved his son just the way he was, but honestly, was a little bit of affection too much to ask? Granted Warren arrived unannounced at the house, well, sprawling mansion, but he was the son, the only son, and still his father treated him with distance and caution.

His father told him about his latest project, which was trying to find a cure for cancer. Ambitious much? Warren told him about teaching economics, and Dr. Worthington frowned, saying that Warren should be training to become the next CEO of Worthington Labs. He never bothered to ask if that was what Warren wanted.

His father told him that some of Warren's old girlfriends were calling on his father, asking where Warren was, but his father hadn't known. Warren told him he was staying in New York at the Xavier School for Gifted Youth, and that he had no interest in seeing any of his ex-girlfriends. His father asked him about women, and Warren said he was not in a relationship, but that he had become close friends with a girl named Thea. Thankfully his father did not ask anymore questions about her because Warren wasn't sure what he would say.

Overall, the meeting was more formal and less family-like than Warren had intended.

The flight back to the mansion was long and a bit cold, but Warren was happy when he landed on the rooftop. He could smell cookies baking and apple cider, two wonderful clichés of the holiday season. The smell only got stronger as he made his way to the living room. A bunch of students staying at the mansion for the holiday season was watching "It's a Wonderful Life" on the television. There were mugs of cider and a platter of assorted cookies on the coffee table.

Warren walked into the kitchen to see another platter of cookies on the counter and some of the older students hanging around.

"Hey guys," he greeted.

"Warren! Have a cookie," Kitty said cheerfully, opening the oven to check on the next batch of cookies.

"Kit, if you keep opening the oven, the cookies will get weird," Thea said from her stool at the counter.

"These look good," Warren said, defending Kitty. He grabbed a chocolate chip cookie from the plate and headed over to the stool next to Thea's.

"Thea made them," Peter replied from next to Kitty.

"Really?" Warren said skeptically, tasting the cookie. It was soft and moist and quite good.

"You don't think I can make cookies?" Thea asked.

"I didn't think you'd make cookies on Christmas Eve. It seems too much in the holiday spirit for someone who hates Christmas," he clarified.

Thea shrugged. "I hate Christmas, but I love Kit," she said simply.

Warren was confused.

"This was my Christmas present from Thea," Kitty explained, closing the oven. "I've wanted Thea to teach me how to make her cookies for a long time, so she finally agreed. She bought all the ingredients and made a batch of each kind with me, and now I'm doing it on my own," Kitty explained.

"Hey, I'm helping," Peter defended.

Kitty smiled widely and stroked Peter's arm. "No, you're distracting me," she said.

"A good distraction though," Peter said.

"Of course," Kitty cooed.

Warren stifled a laugh and Thea rolled her eyes silently.

"So what kind of cookies did you guys make?" Warren asked.

"Chocolate chip and peanut butter. We made one batch of sugar cookies, but since those take so long to make, Kit's not going to try making those until later," Thea answered.

"How diverse," Warren commented. "So what else did you do today?"

"I talked with my parents on the phone. And then I gave Kitty her present. We've been making cookies for at least three hours," Thea said.

"Your parents?" Warren had no idea she had parents because she never talked about them. He had assumed she was orphaned like so many of the people at the school. Why would she never talk about them?

"Yes, Warren. All people come from parents. One mommy and one daddy," she said, as though teaching a child about sex.

Warren nudged her for heckling him, though not hard enough so that she fell off her seat. She smiled at his response.

"You never talk about them, so I figured I shouldn't pry and see if they were around," Warren said.

"You not pry?" Thea teased.

Warren smirked but did not say anything.

"Anyway, yeah, I have parents. I'm lucky, you know? People here, like Jubilee, don't have what I do," Thea said.

Warren knew Thea well enough now to fill in the rest. Thea was blessed with a family and yet she thought she was a walking disaster who couldn't get her life together. Jubilee on the other hand, had lost everything and still seemed so happy. Was his assessment close? He'd bet money on it.

"How often do you talk with them?" he asked

"Not enough," she said.

"Where are they?"

"Abroad," she replied vaguely.

There was silence in the conversation in which Warren had expected her to begin asking him questions about how his meeting with his father went since they were discussing family. But no question like that came. Thea's focus instead seemed to be on Kitty and the cookies.

"So where's my Christmas present?" he asked, directing the conversation elsewhere.

Thea frowned. "I didn't buy you anything," she said.

Warren couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed.

"I figured anything I bought for you would be stupid," she explained. "But there's something I want to give you."

Warren's ears perked up. "Oh?"

Thea smiled shyly. "Yeah."

Warren nudged her impatiently, and Thea gave him a quizzically look.

"What?" she asked.

"Present," Warren said in a whiny though eager voice.

Thea sighed with exasperation and got off the stool. "Kit, are you going to be okay here?"

"Yeah, fine," Kitty said. She and Peter were currently engaged in a poking war, and Warren would not be surprised if the cookies in the oven burned from being ignored.

As Thea and Warren walked out of the kitchen, Warren said, "That's an elaborate gift."

Thea shrugged. "Kitty's worth every bit. She's always been there, and I've realized that I haven't done the same for her."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I had no idea that Kitty and Peter were actually going out on dates and whatever. I mean, a week ago I had no clue that she liked him," Thea said as they walked towards their rooms.

"Ah," Warren said.

"I blame you completely," Thea added lightly.

"What?" Warren asked. Why were guys always blamed when girls were having difficulties?

"We're spending too much time together," Thea explained.

"And that's my fault entirely," Warren commented dryly.

"Yep."

Warren made a hurt face. "So are you breaking up with me?" he asked feigning despair.

Thea smirked. "No, honey, I'm just saying we need a breather," she bantered.

Warren laughed and draped his arm affectionately around Thea's shoulders. He felt her back stiffen momentarily at the contact before relaxing. He frowned for a moment. You'd think after all this time something so small wouldn't make Thea tense up, but apparently not.

"So what'd you get me?" Thea asked.

"Hm, presumptuous aren't we?" Warren replied.

She was still not asking him about his trip to see his father. Did she not care or did she expect him to bring it up?

"No, not presumptuous. Just very certain," she replied cheekily.

"Of course," he said.

He had spent a lot of time thinking about what to get her. She was a difficult person to shop for. The typical female present of jewelry was inappropriate because she didn't wear any. Clothing was a lost cause because she didn't pay them any particular interest and because Warren was no judge of size. He could imagine presenting Thea with a nice cashmere sweater and having her call him a dumbass for buying such an expensive gift in the wrong size. So, Warren was pretty stuck, until he had a stroke of genius. The Powers That Be smiled upon him for once.

"So…?" Thea pressed on.

"Not until I get mine," he said.

Thea narrowed her eyes as though prepared to fight, but instead it seemed she let this instance go.

"Fine."

They walked in companionable silence with Warren's arm still draped over Thea's shoulders. Since she was a little less than a head shorter than him, her shoulder was a very comfortable place to place his arm. He should have thought of this sooner.

"So the time with my father was weird," he began, figuring he'd bring up the topic if she wasn't going to.

Thea tensed up again, and Warren couldn't figure out why.

"Oh?" she asked.

"Yeah. There's so much distance between us. It's always been there, but now, I don't know. I guess I thought after I asserted myself, he's be proud of me and respect me for that. Instead, he seems to just…I don't know," Warren said.

"He's probably just confused about what to say. I'm sure he saw this Christmas playing out differently than how it is," Thea said diplomatically.

Warren snorted derisively. "Yeah. He saw me wingless and taking the winter holiday from training to be the next CEO of the company," Warren said derisively, finally letting out a bit of his frustration.

Thea looked up at him with obvious sympathy in her eyes. It was weird to see sympathy because he never saw that before from her. She was so no-nonsense usually.

"You're his son, I'm sure he loves you no less now," Thea said.

"Maybe. I just wish he respected me," Warren said.

"That's earned," Thea said simply.

"Yeah."

"He'd be an idiot not to respect you at least a bit," she said. "You stood up for yourself. You're living your own life now, separate from him. That deserves respect even if he doesn't agree with your choices."

Warren smiled at Thea's encouraging words. "I wish you came with me, even your poor small talk would have broken the tension."

"Oh, I highly doubt that," Thea said.

"I talked about you."

Thea stopped walking and Warren's arm around her shoulders was yanked back a bit as he was still moving forward.

"Why would you do that?" she asked urgently. Her body was shaking and her eyes were wide with alarm.

Woah, what just happened here? "Uh, because he was asking me about girlfriends and I said I didn't have one, but that I was close friends with you," Warren said.

"Did you say anything about me?" she pressed on impatiently.

"What? No, nothing except your name is Thea and you are a girl and my friend," Warren said, thoroughly confused as to why she was acting this way.

Warren watched as her stance relaxed and her deep breathing calmed her obviously distraught nerves.

"Nothing else? Nothing about what I look like or my abilities or anything like that?" she asked cautiously.

Warren frowned with confusion. "No, nothing like that. What the hell is going on?"

Thea was silent for a while as she seemed to collect herself and her sanity. She still hadn't answered Warren's question.

"I don't like being talked about," she said evenly.

"No shit," Warren replied confusedly.

"I'm sorry. I just…you caught me off guard. Just, in the future, don't talk about me," she requested.

"Why?"

Thea gave him that look she gave him the night they had their fight. It was the I-want-to-tell-you-but-I-just-can't look. It was a frustrating look. Warren knew he needed to drop the subject for her sake, but what about his sake? What about his confusion?

"Okay," he muttered. Why was a peaceful walk to their rooms together so difficult to find these days?

"Thanks, Warren," she said quietly. There was a pause where Warren didn't know what to say. Thea, however, jumped in again. "C'mon. Your present," she said happily, grabbing his hand and dragging him the remaining few feet to her room.

She opened the door and went over to the small nightstand by her bed. Opening the drawer, she pulled out a small pack of white paper. "Now, keep in mind I am but a poor girl in this world," she said as a caveat.

"Okay."

She looked at him critically before handing over the packet.

The rectangular packet resembled the shape of a small pile of money bills. The front page said, "Open Me." Warren did as he was told. On the back of the first page, there seemed to be some rules. "All of the following must be redeemed within a year. None of the following may be redeemed until the giver receives her Christmas present." Warren laughed. What was she doing? The next page said, "This voucher is valid for one three-course meal to be made by the giver for the recipient."

Warren laughed with delight and looked up at Thea. She looked uncertain, but sort of encouraged by his response.

Warren turned the page again. This time the paper said, "This voucher is valid for one car wash by the giver should the recipient ever get a car." Warren laughed even louder. The other pages in the packet contained similar services Thea would perform, but also things that Warren would do for Thea: "This voucher is valid for one instance in which the giver will grade the recipient's class papers", "This voucher is valid for one instance where the recipient buys the giver something pretty", "This voucher is valid for one cooking lesson by the giver for the recipient", "This voucher is valid for one instance where the recipient takes the giver flying (again)", "This voucher is valid for one activity of the recipient's choosing that the giver must do, barring all dirty thoughts in the recipient's dirty mind".

Warren laughed heartily at all of the vouchers. Turning the page to see the last one, he stopped laughing and read it over and over again. "This voucher is valid for one secret of the giver's to be told to the recipient, and the giver means a big secret."

"You really mean that?" Warren asked carefully.

Thea looked at him and smirked. "I wouldn't have wasted the paper otherwise."

Warren grinned, knowing that somehow Thea's walls were coming slowly down. "Thanks. This is really, really great," he said.

Thea smiled with relief. "I'm glad you like it."

"But you know, you're gift is encouraging us to spend more time together. And you just said we should be spending less time together. You can't keep on yanking my chain like this, Althea," Warrren said teasingly.

Thea smirked. "You like being yanked."

"That sounds so dirty."

Thea laughed. "It does," she conceded.

"So all that talk, about not hanging out as much, you didn't mean it?" Warren asked. It so hard to get a straight answer out of Thea, which was one of the reasons he asked so many questions.

"Yeah, I did. I just think we should, you know…"

"See other people?" Warren supplied with a wry smile.

Thea smirked. "We're not breaking up," she deadpanned.

Warren smiled widely at the fact that Thea was still willing to humor him with continuing the banter. "No, never," he said haughtily.

"I just want to be there for Kit. This thing with Peter, I hope it works out. But if it doesn't, I don't want her to, you know, be alone," Thea explained.

"And I agree. I'll beat Peter to a pulp if he hurts her," Warren said protectively. He couldn't help but feel a bit brotherly towards Thea's closest friend. Kitty was the one who helped him understand Thea in the first place, so she was basically responsible for the beginning of his friendship with Thea.

"You mean rhetorically, I hope. Peter can turn into steel," Thea reminded Warren.

Good point. "One can do amazing things with the right motivation," Warren said wisely.

"Touché. But enough talk. I want my gift, Mister."

Warren became jumpy, hoping that she would like her gift. He led the way over to his room and pulled out a large gift wrapped box from his small closet after they entered.

"Here you go," he said, placing the large cube-shaped box in front of Thea's form that was sitting on the edge of his bed. The boxed was covered with snowflake wrapping paper.

"Holy shit," she said, amazed.

She kneeled down on the floor and ripped the paper gleefully off of the box. Warren never saw her look so eager. He had expected that she would look down on the idea of giving and receiving gifts as being stupid or something like that, but it was certainly not the case.

"For someone who hates Christmas, you sure are good at celebrating it," he commented as he joined her on the floor.

Thea looked over to him one all the paper was off of the cardboard box. "I hate Christmas because of the pressure to give stuff. Stuff should be given whenever you feel like giving stuff. I hate all the commercialism. I hate that my family isn't around," Thea explained.

Warren hadn't intended on Thea's reply being so serious. "I understand. But Kitty's around…and…me," he said weakly, his voice becoming very soft at the end. Why couldn't he be stronger, more confident, when he spoke about sensitive things? Perhaps because he realized he was being a bit presumptuous to equate Kitty's and his presence in Thea's life to her parents'.

Warren felt Thea's small hand on his knee. She had a small smirk on her lips but her eyes were open and bright. "Why do you think I'm not miserable right now?" she said.

How could she do that? How could something she say, and all the things implied from what she said, make him feel so goddamn happy?

"Now, what the hell is in here that makes it so heavy?" Thea asked, opening the box.

Her eyes widened as she picked up one of the books at the top. "Holy shit," she said softly. She grabbed the one underneath, and the one underneath that, and soon she realized that the entire box must have been packed with books. And not just any books. Fantasy books. And not just any fantasy books, fantasy books she didn't own. Warren took great pride in knowing he had added forty-six new books to her collection.

"How…how the hell did you know I didn't have these? How did you know I liked these authors?" she said, picking up every single volume and skimming the back cover to read the summaries.

"Well, Kitty has this amazing ability to walk through walls," Warren began explaining. "We broke into your room. I copied down every author and book you had, went to the book store, found the missing parts of series you already owned, stuff by the same authors, stuff by similar authors. I talked with one of the workers there and according to him, you tend to like medieval fantasy with dragons and magicians and sword fighting that is more centered on the characters than the politics of whatever land the fantasy is taking place. So then I got anything that seemed to have those elements. I tried really hard to round it out to fifty books, but the rest didn't seem right," Warren said.

Thea looked at him in amazement. "You wrote down all the books I own? That must be…"

"A hundred and three."

"My God," Thea mumbled, still in shock.

"You flatter me," Warren said, using the line Thea had used when they first met.

Thea's eyes lit up at the memory. She flung her arms around Warren's neck and squeezed. Warren was quite taken aback by the display of affection, but he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her until she was partially sitting on his lap. She was warm and smelled like baked goods. He thought she would pull away, but instead she rested her head on his shoulder.

"You're fucking amazing," she said quietly.

Warren felt her breath on his ear as she spoke those words and his ego swelled with pride. The appreciation in her voice surprised him. True it had taken him a lot of effort, but he hadn't really thought about it being a lot of work. He liked the whole experience because he had learned things about her in the process.

He squeezed her tighter. She felt so good on his lap. All girls should feel this good on a guy's lap. Well, perhaps not. Nothing would get done if that were the case.

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**Author's Note:** Just to clarify, just because I said the climax of the story will not be Thea and Warren getting together doesn't mean they won't get together. What I meant was that even though them getting together is an essential part of the story, the pinnacle (I feel) will not be that. Instead, it will be experiences that will make the two stronger people for each other (I know that's vague). To create this story and not have the characters get together is cruel and not my style at all. The important thing I want to stress though is that I'm not only trying to craft how a relationship forms, but the _people_ forming that relationship. Often I think stories get swept up in the relationship part and don't bother to delve into _why_ these characters are the way they are and do what they do. So, hopefully in the end, there will be two believable, well-rounded characters with a nice relationship. The journey to there will be the challenge. Also, Jubilee will be coming back in the next chapter. And secrets will be revealed soon. Please review, I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you for all the wonderful reviews. You guys taking the time out to read my story is SO great and I can't thank you enough.


	13. Chapter 13

When Thea had told Warren they should spend less time with each other, she had expected her free time to be spent with Kitty. But Kitty and Peter had become an official couple on Christmas Day, and so they were acting like anyone would in an early relationship – they spent twenty-four hours a day together. It was rather sickening but damn cute at the same time. Although Thea was happy for Kitty, at a selfish level she was a bit jealous because she was losing part of her friend to a boy. Granted Peter was a great boy, but he was a boy nonetheless. And Kitty's blossoming relationship left no time for Thea, who spent her free time reading the fantasy books Warren had given her. It was only New Year's Eve morning and Thea had already finished four books.

Warren had been spending time with _Jube_, much to Thea's chagrin. They would do little things together like hanging out in front of the television or having lunch. The more Thea thought about it, a relationship between Warren and Jubilee would probably work out well. They were both very kind people who were quite flirtatious and confident. Both were very intelligent, so conversation would be easy and engaging. And Jubilee's happy nature would be good when addressing Warren's insecurities about his father.

Thea easily remembered the time when she did not want Jubilee anywhere near Warren because if they were to get together, it would have made her feel awkward. It was a very selfish reason, but that time was over. Although she was still uncertain about where she stood in his life, she knew, without a doubt, that she was important to him. So now, she wouldn't jump for joy if Warren and Jubilee became a couple, but she wouldn't be too upset. Warren deserved the most happiness possible, and if Jubilee was the one to give it to him, then that was that.

Yet Thea couldn't help but feel a pang of remorse at the thought of Warren happy with Jubilee. If Thea did not have so many secrets, and if she was not so difficult to get along with, and if she could just trust Warren with every aspect of herself, couldn't she be the one to make Warren happy? It was an unfair question to ask herself, Thea knew that. It was like asking, "If you were a completely different person, wouldn't you be the right person for Warren?" Stupid, stupid question and stupid, stupid thoughts.

But still…he made her so damn happy. Thea couldn't remember being as happy as when she was with Warren, and that included the time before coming to the mansion. It was a revealing and frightening thought that she pushed aside as she drowned herself in a fantasy novel.

Eventually, however, she left her room and went to the kitchen to make lunch.

"Hey, Thea," Bobby said with a charming smile as he put some food in the microwave.

"Hi, Bobby," Thea replied, opening up the refrigerator to grab materials to make a sandwich.

"How's your New Year's Eve shaping up?" Bobby asked.

"Oh, nothing much. Probably will stay in and read."

Bobby made a face. "How about coming to a club tonight to celebrate?" he asked.

Ah, clubbing. Thea hadn't gone to a club since her first quarter at Stanford, and even then, it was only once. But the loud music, energetic atmosphere, and hip-hop dancing made it a great experience.

"I don't know, Bobby," Thea said.

"Hey guys," Kitty greeted.

Thea turned around to see Kitty and Peter coming into the kitchen for lunch.

"Wow, look who's emerged from the abyss of fledgling relationships," Thea teased.

Kitty blushed and Peter's arm moved to rest comfortably over her shoulders. Thea remembered Warren doing a similar thing with her.

"I was just telling Thea about the club," Bobby said.

"You're totally coming tonight," Kitty said adamantly.

"You're going clubbing?" Thea asked.

Kitty looked really excited. "Yeah, it'll be my first time! Peter and Marie and Warren are coming."

"I don't know, Kitty," Thea said. "It sounds like couples and then Warren and me thrown into the mix."

"That's the point," Kitty said with a mischievous smile.

Bobby snickered noticeably.

"You're in on this too?" Thea asked him.

Bobby raised his hands in surrender but had difficulty suppressing his laughter.

"Thea, why else would I buy you those tops for Christmas?" Kitty said, alluding to how far in advanced they all must have planned this.

Kitty had bought Thea some…revealing tops. They were composed of slinky material, thin straps, and plunging necklines. Quite frankly, they were perfect clubbing shirts but not something Thea would willingly wear.

"This is a conspiracy," Thea mumbled.

"C'mon, Warren would love it, I'm sure," Kitty teased.

"Kit, I'm no going to wear a skanky shirt and prance around for Warren's benefit!" Thea said loudly.

"You aren't?" Warren asked, coming into the kitchen with Jubilee, probably to grab lunch as well.

Thea could feel her cheeks redden and placed a hand on her forehead to cover up her embarrassment.

"Fucking conspiracy," Thea mumbled.

"So why isn't Thea going to wear a skanky shirt for me?" Warren asked the group with a knowing smile.

"She's not sure if she wants to go clubbing tonight," Bobby explained.

"At this rate, there's no way in hell I'm going," Thea said.

"Clubbing? Sounds fun," Jubilee said.

"You should come too," Warren said with a smile.

Part of Thea was happy that Warren suggested Jubilee coming because that meant that she didn't have to go through all the effort of wearing a revealing top and spend the night watching Warren pick up other girls. But the majority of her was upset that Warren had invited Jubilee along when this event was so transparently a couple's thing. Was Warren that dense? Or was this a way Warren was saying that he never would entertain the idea of him and Thea being a couple? Or was this the way he was saying he wanted to be a couple with Jubilee? Ah shit, Thea actually cared about what this all meant. This was not a good sign.

"You know what? That's perfect. Jubilee can take my spot," Thea said.

Warren frowned and was about to respond when Kitty jumped in.

"You can't be serious," Kitty said, her eyes wide and urgent.

Thea could tell exactly what Kitty was thinking without any kind of telepathy. _You can't let Jubilee have the opportunity to win Warren_ was what Kitty meant. Well, why not? Thea wasn't planning on making a move anytime soon, so why not give Jubilee the opportunity to make Warren happy?

"Yeah, I think it's a great idea. I'll stay here, hold down the fort. You guys have fun, okay?" Thea said before brushing past Kitty and Warren and Jubilee. Her heart was racing with a mixture of emotions by the time she reached her room, and she was still hungry.

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Dinner that evening had been an awkward experience, though Thea had no idea why. She had been exceptionally cheerful, at least by her standards, in the presence of Marie, Bobby, Peter, Kitty, Warren and Jubilee. Yet Kitty and Bobby, especially, seemed to be scrutinizing her at all times.

A couple hours later, Thea was settled onto her bed for another night of epic reading when there was a knock on her door.

"Hey," Warren greeted.

"Hi," Thea said, putting down her book.

"Why aren't you getting ready?" Warren asked.

Thea didn't bother feigning ignorance over what Warren was talking about. "I'm not going."

"It'll be fun," Warren said.

"I'm sure it will be," Thea replied.

"Kitty's really upset that you said you aren't going," Warren said, trying a different approach to cajole Thea into going.

"Well, Kit's got all these plans. And when things don't go according to her plans, she gets upset," Thea replied vaguely.

"Why don't you want to go?" Warren asked.

Thea really didn't want to tell him. Didn't he see how their friends had been setting them up together until Warren had suggested Jubilee go? In truth, Thea had entertained the idea of going with Warren to the club, dancing with him, flirting, and all that date-like stuff, until reality got the better of her.

"I just don't," Thea replied.

Warren sat down on the side of the bed, the feathers of his wings brushing gently against Thea's legs. Thea shifted over so that she could no longer feel the softness of the feathers, it was distracting.

"I want you to come," Warren said.

"You'll have a great time with Jubilee," Thea said, a little too abruptly.

Warren looked at Thea critically. "Is that what this is about?" he asked, leaning at bit towards her.

Thea got off the bed to put a wide space between her and Warren.

"I want you to come," Warren repeated, getting off the bed to stand in front of her.

"Well, not happening," Thea said stubbornly.

An all too familiar piece of paper was waved across her face. "Yep, it is," he said simply, handing the paper over to her. It read, "This voucher is valid for one activity of the recipient's choosing that the giver must do, barring all dirty thoughts in the recipient's dirty mind".

"You sure you want to use this on a night of clubbing?" Thea asked skeptically.

"Quite certain," Warren said. "We're leaving in an hour. Kitty'll be in to help you get change."

Thea narrowed her eyes in realization. "You were in on this too. Why is everyone so adamant about making me go clubbing?" she asked.

Warren shrugged. "I didn't know about any of this until Kitty told me you didn't want to go. When I asked Jube to come, that didn't mean I didn't want you to come. I'll see you soon," he said. "And please wear one of those shirts Kitty bought," he added with a smile.

"The voucher says no dirty thoughts," Thea warned.

Warren smiled innocently. "What dirty thoughts?" he said, walking out the door.

Not a minute later Kitty ran through Thea's wall with a happy expression on her face.

"What are you doing?" Thea asked exasperatedly.

"Helping you get ready," Kitty said as though it were obvious.

"No, I mean about this whole clubbing thing. Why couldn't you just let me stay here and have Warren go with Jubilee?"

Kitty frowned. "And let her win your guy? No way."

"Okay, first of all, you really need to understand that Warren is not my guy. This delusion you are under was mildly entertaining, but now it's just annoying," Thea snapped.

Kitty stood up straighter, ready for the verbal sparring. "I'm the delusional one? For heaven's sake, Thea, Warren's crazy about you! Why else would he go through all that freakin' trouble with your Christmas present? _You_ are the delusional one. And you know what? Warren is too. He probably doesn't even realize how much he likes you. But the fact is that you guys are totally in love with each other and I'm not going to let Jubilee cut in and try and seduce Warren away from you. She's a great girl, but she's not for him. You are," Kitty said passionately.

Thea's head was spinning from what Kitty had said. When did all of this become so complicated? Love? Who said anything about love? And Warren already liking her? She hadn't even entertained that thought.

"But if Warren responds to any kind of advances Jubilee makes, doesn't that mean he likes her?" Thea asked.

Kitty let out an exasperated sigh. "No! It means he's horny and he's given up on you before he's even tried to make a move."

"Well, then maybe it's not meant to work out between us anyway."

"Well, you're not giving him any signals that you want something to work out between you two."

"Well, if he knew me well enough, he would know that I wouldn't make a first move."

"Well, he has every reason to think you would make the first move when you said if you wanted to, you'd just jump him!"

"Well, I haven't jumped him, have I? So clearly I don't want to."

"Thea! Stop! God, you're just making excuses. Just answer this question, okay?" Kitty said frustratingly.

"Okay."

"Yes or No: Do you like Warren in a romantic way?" Kitty asked calmly.

Thea's head swarmed with the consequences of answering that question. Her past, her parents, her friendship with Warren, her honesty with herself, her future, her emotions…they would all be affected by the answer to that question.

But Kitty wasn't asking about what would be affected by the answer, she was asking what the answer was. It was a very complicated situation, but a very easy answer.

"Yes."

Hearing herself say that simple, stupid word was amazing. She had toyed with the idea of liking Warren, her parents had talked to her as though she liked Warren, Kitty had assumed she like Warren, but she never had admitted it out loud. It was all more concrete now. She was excited and scared out of her mind from that one word.

"That's settled then," Kitty said airily. She walked over to Thea's closet to pick out an outfit.

"What? Nothing's settled. It just makes everything all the more complicated," Thea said.

"No. You like the guy. He likes you. He'll make you happy. You'll make him happy. If you two just freakin' TRY!" Kitty replied, thoroughly annoyed.

Thea didn't know what to say. Everything was so clear to Kitty while her own mind was filled with haze.

"So, tonight is the night to try," Kitty said simply.

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**Author's Note:** Thanks for the reviews! I appreciate all your kind words about my story! You guys talking about you check for updates neurotically just makes me want to update faster because I know exactly how you feel! I just never expected to be one of the writers people waited so eagerly for, so it's very flattering. This chapter is shorter, but that's because the next one is going to be very, very interesting and pretty long. In regards to the last chapter, I'm glad that some of you thought the beginning was choppy because that was exactly what it was supposed to be. The narration of each chapter is based on either Warren or Thea's POV, which is why I've tried to make the narration's style a bit different for each of the characters. In the last chapter from Warren's POV, he was upset and feeling very insecure in the beginning, so I was trying to get the narration to reflect that sentiment. When he reaches the mansion and is with Thea, the narration smoothes out because Warren has calmed down more. Warren's narration is more frank and self-deprecating. Thea's narration is usually more intense in terms of thinking through things because Thea loves to think. I'll try to work on that more if it's not obvious. Anyway, please review and let me know what you think! Thanks!


	14. Chapter 14

**WARNING:** This chapter contains an explicit dance sequence with strong sexual connotations. Please read at your own discretion.

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"Stop scowling," Kitty admonished as Thea stared at her reflection in the mirror critically.

"This is a very bad idea," Thea said, feeling an impending sense of doom.

"You're being melodramatic. It doesn't suit you," Kitty countered. "You look great."

Although Thea's face held an expression of uncertainty, the rest of her body looked like she knew exactly what she was doing. After much debate, Kitty and Thea agreed on Thea wearing a light pink form-fitting floral top. It had no plunging neck line but instead had the horizontal cut of a tube top but with thin pink satin ribbons that came up around the neck and crossed at the back. Thea had picked out her dark blue boot-cut jeans and black boots to accompany the top. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail because she knew the club would be hot and crowded, and she had no desire to feel sweaty hair on the back of her neck. Kitty had insisted she wear some earrings, and Thea reluctantly agreed on some dangly silver ones. Kitty had wanted to put some make-up on Thea, but Thea adamantly refused. That created another mini fight, but Kitty finally threw her hands up and said something along the lines of "Warren probably thinks you're hot when you look like a slob." Although Thea won the fight, Kitty's comment only made Thea more aware of her appearance.

Thea's time of hating her body and wanting to be skinny and wishing she had a flat tummy and all those other stupid things advertised in women's magazines ended after her first quarter at Stanford. During the months in Wothington Labs, she had plenty of other things on her mind, such as escape, that drowned out any self image woes. And when she came to the mansion, she had zero interest in men and did not have all the self-consciousness accompanied by wanting to attract the attention of men. Warren was the first person Thea had romantic feelings for in years.

And now, once again, Thea had the luxury of excess energy to hate her body but the experience to know it was a waste of time. But just because she knew it was a waste of time didn't mean she had no doubts about her appearance. Her hair was showing its dark brown roots, and she hadn't bothered to re-dye it purple yet. Her cheeks were chubbier than she would have liked, her thighs a bit too bulky, her stomach a bit too round, her arms a bit too big, and the list went on. Luckily, she knew that in the end a person liked you because of all that lovely sappy stuff on the inside since all that exterior stuff would eventually turn into flab and sags anyway.

And besides, Warren had already seen her with just her bra and panties on, and did not seem repulsed at all.

"Okay, enough with the narcissism," Kitty teased. "It's time to go."

Thea and Kitty met the rest of the group by the front door of the mansion. The guys, Bobby, Peter, and Warren were already there, along with Marie.

"Woah," Warren said quietly as Thea and Kitty greeted them.

"Thea, you look great," Bobby praised.

"Hot," Peter said. "And you look really hot," he added, addressing Kitty. Kitty was wearing a green top with thin straps and a deep neckline along with black pants and black sandals.

Kitty smiled goofily and thanked Peter.

Thea tried very hard not to snicker at the antics of the new couple. "Thanks," she said quietly to Bobby and to an already distracted Peter.

"Ah love tha' top on you," Marie said to Thea.

Thea was beginning to blush from all the praise. "Kitty got it for me. But you look stunning."

It was true. Marie was wearing a black tube top dress that fell to her knees and black heels. She was showing a lot of skin, and Thea guessed that was the intention. Undoubtedly Marie's feet would hurt like hell after an hour, but she looked damn good regardless.

"Hey everyone," Jubilee greeted.

Thea felt her small bit of confidence diminish at the sight of Jubilee. Dressed in knee-high boots, fishnet stockings, black skirt with wide pleats, a tight black tank top, her signature yellow jacket, and large silver hoop earrings, Jubilee looked smashing.

"Jube, you look great," Warren said easily.

A round of compliments went to Jubilee and the girls commented on how dashing the boys looked, and then it seemed everyone was ready to leave.

"So I'll meet you in the parking lot," Warren said, handing over a duffle bag to Bobby, who was going to be the driver.

"Yeah, we'll be there in about twenty minutes," Bobby said.

"Why aren't you coming with us?" Thea asked.

"The car can cram six, so I'm going to fly," Warren explained.

Just as Thea was going to say that she wanted to fly with him, he said knowingly, "It's too cold out there for you to fly with me."

Damn.

The group got into the car and Warren made his way to the rooftop. On the ride over, conversation started out with past clubbing experiences. None of the other people besides Thea and Jubilee had past clubbing experiences. It was an eye-opening revelation for Thea because although Bobby, Marie, Kitty and Peter went out saving the world from certain doom, they did not have typical young adult experiences.

"I went clubbing when I was like fourteen. I got a fake ID and I thought I was so cool to pretend to be eighteen," Jubilee said.

The group laughed as Jubilee told stories about times she almost got caught being underage.

"Thea, if you've gone clubbing before, how come you were so difficult when I was helping you dress?" Kitty asked.

Thea shrugged. "Clubbing, frat parties, drinking, all that stuff, it seems so long ago. I'm a different person now."

There was a polite silence until Bobby asked, "So how are frat parties?"

Thea entertained the group with stories from various frat parties she went to at Stanford during the rest of the trip to the club.

The club, it turned out, was in the mall Kitty and Thea had gone Christmas shopping in. It took up a large part of the second floor, and it was an eighteen and older club. Bobby parked the car and the group clamored outside. It was a very chilly night, and Thea was happy they were all wearing their winter coats.

Warren swooped down beside them as they got out.

"Hey guys," he said, smoke coming out of his mouth in the cold air and his cheeks red from the cold.

"Hey. Here you go," Bobby said, tossing the duffle bag to Warren.

"Thanks."

"What's going on?" Thea asked.

"I'm changing," Warren explained.

"What's wrong with what you have on?" Thea asked. Warren was wearing a blue sweater with the back cut to expose his wings and black pants.

"My wings show," Warren said, reaching behind his back to undo the snaps.

Thea frowned. "Is this club anti-mutant?" she asked.

"No, it's just a normal club. This is just a precaution," Warren said pulling his sweater off quickly and reaching for his bindings that he had in the duffle bag.

"Precaution?"

"Drunk people can get ugly. There's no telling what some random drunk asshole would do if my wings show. It's an unnecessary risk," Warren said, shivering in the cold and fumbling with the clasp of the bindings. "Shit, it's freezing out here, can you help me?" he asked Thea.

Thea frowned and backed away. "You shouldn't have to hide who you are," she said indignantly.

"Thea, I always do this when I go out anywhere in public. No matter what the laws are regarding tolerance towards mutants, people are scared by what's different, and I'm the poster child for different," Warren said irritably, still fumbling with the clasp. "Fuck," he muttered as he shivered.

"Here, let me help," Jubilee said, pushing Warren's hands away and using her warm hands to fasten his bindings. "This is a pretty cool contraption," she added as Warren pulled out a white tank top and put that on.

"Thanks," he muttered. He took out a black trench coat and shoved his sweater into the duffle bag. He put the trench coat on, effectively hiding any evidence of his wings. He tossed the duffle bag into the car.

Thea watched as Warren treated the whole experience like it was nothing. Why was she the only one who seemed pissed off? She understood his reasoning and she knew that he had a good point in binding his wings and hiding them from the public, but at the same time, the world shouldn't be a place where he felt compelled to do that! She was so pissed at…not at Warren but at…she didn't even know.

"Sorry for keeping everyone waiting," Warren said cheerfully, looking odd without his wings behind him. Thea knew he should have looked more normal this way, but to her, he just looked awful.

"No worries," Kitty said easily, trying to diffuse the obvious tension in the group.

By the time they got inside the club, it was around ten-twenty in the evening. The hip hop music that had been muffled outside as they had waited in line was loud and intoxicating. And, for a moment, Thea felt like she never left college.

"This is awesome!" Kitty screamed over the music as the group weaved through the crowds of people standing near the numerous bars.

Thea smiled at Kitty's enthusiasm. The club was thankfully not stuffy or humid; perhaps it was due to a combination of the cold outdoors and air conditioning. Peter led them successfully through the throngs of people and up a set of stairs to an empty table with a curved booth they could crowd around.

"Does anyone want anything to drink?" Warren asked. Warren was the only one old enough to buy the alcohol and had no qualms buying things for the rest of the group. They were, after all, ridiculously responsible people.

"I'd like a beer," Peter said. "It's stupid how I can't order it myself."

Peter, being Russian, could drink alcohol like it was water and had complained earlier in the car about how he had been drinking alcohol (responsibly, of course) since he was a young teenager.

"One more year," Kitty said encouragingly.

Peter smirked at sat down at the table, dragging Kitty down with him.

"Can I have a sex on the beach?" Jubilee said to Warren.

"Sure," Warren said. "Do you want anything?" he asked Thea.

Thea, who had been ignoring the entire conversation, turned to look at Warren. He seemed uneasy and wouldn't look her in the eyes. "No, thanks though," she said courteously. As he left to get drinks, Thea scolded herself on screwing up and making things awkward between them. She couldn't help it if she had strong opinions about things. She couldn't help it if she hated seeing Warren hide himself. But she should have kept quiet about it.

The group talked, or rather yelled, about their first impressions of the club. It was a pretty big place, but the fact that it was New Year's Eve probably made it more crowded. The lighting was dim and thankfully there was not too much strobe lighting, which was irritating in Thea's opinion. There was a bar stationed at one side of a large dance floor and another one upstairs where the seating was located. The DJ was in a corner mixing the latest hip hop tracks and screaming at the dancers to make some noise. The dance floor was packed with groups of girls dancing together, guys on the perimeter scoping out possible girls to dance with, and couples grinding to their hearts', and other bodily parts', content.

Thea thought grinding was stupid. She had occasionally done it during the frat parties at Stanford but she was always disgusted with the smell of alcohol on the guy's breath. It was always the same deal: the guy would approach Thea from behind, say she looked 'hott', touch her, and either she would consent to dancing with him or completely blow him off. Usually the guy would want to dance with her back against his chest, and Thea thought this position was so impersonal. Granted, dancing with drunk boys at frat parties did not lead to the expectation of something personal, but to Thea, dancing was personal. Grinding bodies against each other was personal. But Thea had walked away from each frat party feeling like she was selling out her beliefs, and she had gotten to the point where she no longer wanted to dance with boys. When she went to the club with a couple of girlfriends, the experience was much more fun.

"Here you go," Warren said as he returned with Peter's beer and Jubilee's mixed drink.

"You're not drinking anything?" Peter asked.

Warren shrugged. "Not in the mood," he said, sitting down next to Jubilee and across from Thea.

"I want to dance," Kitty said, nodding her head to the music. "C'mon girls, let's dance."

"Jubilee, we can wait for you to finish your drink," Marie said.

Jubilee shook her head and smiled. "It's totally fine. I'll see you out there in a bit," she said.

"Okay, sounds great. C'mon Thea," Kitty said, pushing her friend to get off the booth and onto the dance floor.

Thea relented and grabbed Kitty's hand as she led the way towards the dance floor, looking for an open space. When they finally got to an area where they could move around freely, the girls danced. Since she hadn't gone clubbing or partying in so long, she didn't know any of the songs the DJ was playing, but it didn't really matter. The beat washed over her and it was like the two year break from dancing never existed. It felt good to move like this again. When she finally felt settled into dancing to the hip hop music once again, she saw Kitty and Marie looking at her.

"Thea, you've been holdin' out on us," Marie said above the music.

"Yeah, Thea, you're a great dancer!" Kitty added.

Thea laughed. "Thanks, guys. You guys are really cute dancers," she yelled.

Marie and Kitty had very girlish styles of dancing to the hip hop music. Their arms hung loosely at their sides or were raised as fingers ran through their hair. There were small hip movements, lots of delicate swaying, and big smiles. Thea's dancing was more 'street', following the beat of the music with strong hip action and body rolls. She was putting it all out there because she didn't know when the next time would be when she would be able to dance like this again. Despite the air conditioning, the sweat eventually dripped down her forehead, her body was hot, and she felt so alive.

"This is so much fun!" Thea said happily.

Marie and Kitty beamed. "Aren't you glad I dragged you here?" Kitty said with a cocky smile.

Thea hugged Kitty spontaneously before continuing to dance. After two songs, a guy, probably in his mid twenties, asked Marie to dance. He was decent looking but obviously that didn't matter since Marie was with Bobby.

"No, thank you," Marie said politely.

"Aw, c'mon," the guy said touching her arm.

Marie recoiled from the touch, probably due to a combination of the fact that this guy was a stranger and because she was still adjusting to the fact that people could touch her without getting their life literally sucked out of them.

"No, Ah don't want to," Marie said, looking a bit scared.

"It's just one dance," the guy said. He was annoyingly persistent.

"Look, she said no," Thea said protectively, stepping between the guy and Marie.

The guy frowned. "What, are you guys lesbians?" he asked.

Thea almost laughed in his face. "Just go find someone else," she said dismissively.

The guy scowled and mumbled "Bitch" before stalking off.

Thea turned back to Kitty and Marie and rolled her eyes. "Clearly we're lesbian because who wouldn't want to dance with that jerk," she said sarcastically.

Marie and Kitty laughed. The girls continued dancing together, and Kitty got hit on as well. When the guy wouldn't get the hint that Kitty didn't want to dance, Thea pulled her close and started dancing rather erotically with her. The guy looked miffed and walked away, and the girls had a good laugh.

Later on, Kitty started making furtive glances over Thea's shoulder, and Thea turned around to see what Kitty was looking at. Jubilee and Warren were dancing together, a mixture of playful dancing and explicit grinding. Warren was smiling the entire time and Jubilee would whisper things in his ear that would cause him to laugh. He would say something in return that would make Jubilee laugh.

They looked so happy together.

"Thea, it doesn't mean anything," Kitty said encouragingly.

Thea smiled weakly at her friend. "It's okay, Kit," she said, feigning indifference. But Thea had a hard time tearing her eyes away from Warren and Jubilee dancing together in their own little world. At the same time, it hurt to see them like that. "I'm going to get some water," Thea said, deciding she wasn't going to be an angst-ridden, masochistic girl pining for a stupid boy. She was going to have fun dancing – screw boys.

"Good idea," Marie said.

After getting their waters, the girls went back to the table where Bobby and Peter were talking.

"How was the dancing?" Bobby asked as Marie scooted next to him.

"Great. This guy was hassling me, but Thea shut him down," Marie said.

"Yeah, she can dance up on girls really well too," Kitty said jokingly.

The boys looked quite intrigued. What was it with boys' interest in girl-on-girl action anyway? Marie and Kitty entertained their boyfriends with the full stories and the boys were very amused and thanked Thea for protecting 'their girls.'

"You girls probably looked too hot for your own good," Bobby said jokingly.

"Thea did, that's for sure," Kitty said.

"No one was hitting on me," Thea pointed out.

"Yeah, because your dancing prowess probably intimidated them. They wouldn't know what to do with themselves," Kitty said.

Thea loved her friend for praising her. Kitty knew just the thing to make her feel better when the majority of her thoughts were unfortunately consumed with the images of Warren and Jubilee dancing.

"That good huh? I'll have to see," Bobby said.

"Anytime," Thea said with a smile. She didn't like dancing with random drunk boys, but Bobby wasn't random nor was he drunk.

"You should dance with her," Marie said.

"You don't mind?" Bobby asked.

Marie shook her head as she gulped down some water. "I'm exhausted. Go dance," Marie said.

Thea felt oddly flattered that Marie trusted her with Bobby. Granted Thea and Bobby had no romantic feelings for each other whatsoever, but most girlfriends would not want their boyfriends to dance with other girls regardless. It was an obvious testament to the security Marie felt in their relationship now.

"Thea?" Bobby asked, inclining his head to the dance floor.

"Sure," Thea said, taking a final sip of water and following Bobby down the stairs.

Thankfully Thea could not see where Warren and Jubilee were dancing. Thea and Bobby danced to the music with a decent amount of space between them because she felt it was a bit weird to grind on another girl's boyfriend even if it didn't mean anything. Bobby was a pretty good dancer, fully capable to follow the beat. They had a fun time dancing together for a few songs.

"We'll have to go clubbing more often. You look so happy," Bobby said as he watched Thea dance.

Thea blushed. "I had forgotten how great dancing is," she said.

"May I cut in?" a male voice said.

Thea was about to tell the guy off until she realized it was Warren.

Bobby's grin was huge. "Sure. Have fun." With that Bobby vanished into the crowd.

Thea would have to remember to scold Bobby for ditching her like that when he knew damn well things were weird with her and Warren at the moment.

"Let's dance," Warren said over the music.

Where was Jubilee? "You think you can keep up?" Thea asked with a smirk.

Warren shrugged and smiled. "I can try."

_Try._ There was that word again. Thea should try to…what? Try to get over her feelings for Warren? Try to encourage him to try with Jubilee? Try to encourage him to try with her?

Thea smirked and began dancing, placing a good amount of distance between her and Warren. His presence was distracting in of itself, so there was no telling what would happen if they got closer. As Warren danced, Thea observed that he could follow the music well and he did not hide the face that he was watching her dance at all times.

"I meant to tell you earlier…you look amazing," Warren said.

Thea looked up at him with a skeptical expression.

"I mean, you already know I think you're beautiful but it's just…tonight…"

"Thanks," Thea said, grateful that the dim lights did not show her blush.

"You're welcome," Warren said with a shy smile.

"I'm sorry about earlier. I wasn't upset at you," she said, still dancing with a generous space between them.

"Don't worry about it," Warren said with an easy smile.

After two songs, the distance between her and Warren was significantly smaller, and Thea didn't know if she was moving closer to him or if he was moving closer to her. She suspected it was both. They were still facing each other and dancing, but they weren't really touching other than the occasional accidental brush of the arm. However, Warren's arms occasionally would extend of a second and then fall back down, as though he wanted to hold her but wasn't sure she would want that.

Try, right?

Thea stopped thinking and stepped forward. Just as she stepped forward, Warren slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her against his body, placing his leg between hers. Thea wrapped one of her arms around his neck while the other one rest against the side of his chest. The whole thing happened so quickly, showing they had been thinking the same thing. They began moving to the beat of the music together.

With the first bump of his leg between hers, Thea felt sparks of pleasure travel throughout her body that she wanted to feel over and over again. She also felt a sudden vexation at Warren for pulling her into this position because he must have been an experienced dancer to know what dancing like this would make her feel. He wanted her to feel those things in his presence. Thea felt manipulated and oddly thankful. She never danced with anyone in this position or this intimately.

Because Thea's boots gave her a few inches of height, her forehead was now parallel with Warren's lips. Warren used that to his advantage and kissed her forehead. Instead of telling him off for kissing her, she found herself grinding shamelessly against Warren's body seeking the pleasure he had instigated. He dipped his head to the side and rested his forehead against her shoulder, holding her tightly and grinding with her.

Thea's mind was in complete conflict with itself. This was Warren, and neither of them could chalk up this behavior to drunkenness. And she hated grinding, right? But at the same time, didn't she want something like this to happen?

"Althea," Warren breathed against Thea's neck. Thea could have sworn she felt his lips against her bare shoulder. She only pressed herself closer to him, if that was even spatially possible.

Warren grunted in her ear, and this time Thea knew his lips were touching her skin. It was just a peck, on the top of her shoulder no less, but it was enough to make Thea want more. She held him tightly and tilted her head to allow him access to her neck.

He kissed her again and again as they moved to the music. She could feel his tongue occasionally on her skin as he kissed her. God, that was Warren's tongue! And crap, that was just Warren's teeth! Her hand that had been around his neck was now encouraging Warren to continue kissing her by running her fingers in his hair. Her mind went hazy, and rational thought was suppressed by flagrant desire that Thea had no idea she was still capable of feeling.

"Warren," she whispered.

She didn't know if he would hear her above the volume of the music, but it seemed like he did. He stopped kissing her neck and looked into her eyes. She couldn't tell if it was his eyes that were dark or it was just because of the room. Either way, he wouldn't stop looking at her. His eyes looked down at her lips at then back up at her. Oh, he was good – signaling that he wanted to kiss her but letting her decide if she wanted it. Then again, she should expect no less from him. And yes, she wanted to.

But damn it, she couldn't. She wasn't quite that swept up with hormonal need to forget everything – the consequences. She pulled away from him with the purpose of walking away and clearing her mind from whatever dance-sexual-tension-thing they just engaged in, but Warren had anticipated that.

"Don't," he said, perhaps a bit desperately, as he grabbed her hand firmly and pulled her back flush against his chest.

Thea thought about pulling away again, telling him she just couldn't do this, but she rationalized away that option. She told herself this position, where her back was to his chest, was a familiar, less intimate position. This position did not shoot sparks of pleasure through her body with every contact like the other position did. This way of dancing was mostly to turn the guy on; she wouldn't get all hormonal again dancing like this.

And so she stayed, moving with the music against Warren's body. Warren clasped their hands together as he snaked his arms around her torso and pulled her close. He buried his head in the crook of her neck and sighed with contentment.

While Thea had anticipated feeling less intimate in this position, it was simply not the case. She soon realized what mattered was the person you danced with, not the position. This was Warren, after all. This was the guy who knew more about her than she cared for someone to know. This was the guy who had seen her nearly naked and who called her beautiful and who had spent so much effort on a gift for her. This was the guy she had feelings for.

And, oh dear, he was hard. Instead of being mildly amused or completely indifferent like she was when other guys would have the same response as she danced with them, she felt very pleased to have gotten that reaction from Warren. Granted it was a physical response to physical stimulation but she was still the cause.

"Althea…I'm…uh…" he started to say with uncertainty, apparently to warn her about his present condition. Like she wouldn't know. Maybe he thought she would be disgusted. Hardly.

Thea only pressed herself more against him and grinded. She heard him moan as he pressed forward. Her mind was swarming with the blaring music, the awareness that they were dancing explicitly for everyone to see (but not caring), and the intoxicating feeling of surrendering all inhibitions to enjoy just a bit of time with what she wanted - Warren. The realistic part of her brain told her this would end at some point, the magic was going to be broken and they would have to deal with the consequences of what they were doing, but Thea recklessly didn't care at the moment.

For once she was feeling free. And she wanted more.

Thea reached behind her to run her fingers through Warren's hair.

"What are we doing?" Warren murmured in her ear, his voice husky and confused.

Thea turned around to face him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She felt new determination from the knowledge that he seemed to want what she wanted too.

"Trying," Thea said.

Warren's eyes flicked to her lips and back to her eyes. She smiled and tilted her head up as she pulled Warren down. When their lips met, there were no bells or whistles or knee pops. It was hot and sweaty and a bit salty. But she loved it. The rest of the world drowned out – the music was muffled, there were no other people around, and she had no idea if they were dancing still or not. It was just kissing, lots and lots of kissing. He was a confident kisser, which was certainly helpful because Thea hadn't really gotten enough experience to perfect the art of kissing. She was perfectly happy following Warren's lead after she made the first move.

Suddenly, Thea felt Warren jerk against her before staggering back. She fell out of Warren's grasp off balanced, but quickly righted herself. Her brain was still foggy from the kissing, but the music was once again loud and she was jostled against some random bodies.

"What the fuck?" someone shouted from behind Warren.

Thea looked to see that Warren, still dazed, had broken his wing's bindings. The outline of the wings standing perpendicular to his shoulders was evident under the trench coat. What had happened? She went to him immediately and placed her hand on his arm.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Warren frowned and looked thoroughly embarrassed.

"Yeah, fine, we should…"

"Get the fuck out, you freak," a tall, black-haired guy said, stepping in front of Thea and Warren. His eyes were bloodshot but he didn't stagger.

"And get the fuck away from her," the man added, pulling Thea protectively away from Warren and towards him.

Thea easily broke the man's hold on her wrist with a twist. "Look, back off," she warned, stepping back towards Warren.

The tall man frowned. "So you're with this mutant?" he asked above the music. The way he said mutant sounded like it was so…dirty.

Thea looked around to see that a circle of people had formed around her, Warren, and this drunk guy. People were whispering and pointing to Warren. Thea could feel herself getting angrier by the second. She looked at Warren who hadn't said anything. She expected him to look upset or offended, but he just looked distant closed-off.

"Yes. Back off," she said assertively.

The man snorted and looked at Warren directly. "You mutants need little whores to defend you?"

Warren snapped out of whatever trance he had been in and lunged at the man, but Thea held him back firmly.

"No," she ordered Warren.

"Oh, I see how it is. You mutants like to take orders from whores," the man egged on.

Thea still had a firm hold on Warren, but he sidestepped her and advanced towards the man. He punched the guy in the face and the guy stumbled until his back hit the ledge against the wall where some empty glass beer bottles were. The man grabbed a beer bottle, broke it against the wall, just like in those stupid bar fights in movies, and lunged at Warren. Warren tried to evade the attack, but the sharp glass scraped across his t-shirt covered torso in the process. The man then stumbled, ready for another attack, but Peter was behind him and grabbed him. Bobby was soon at Warren's side and pulled him out of the club.

"Are you okay?" Kitty said to Thea.

What the hell just happened? "Yeah, yeah, let's follow them," Thea said.

Marie, Kitty, and Thea swerved through the crowd, trying to avoid eye contact with all of the people staring at them.

When they finally got out into the cold night, the girls saw the guys by their car. Warren was leaning face forward against the side of the car, his torso bare. The bloody muscle T and trench coat lay abandoned on the ground so that Warren's wings were fully exposed now. Bobby and Peter were giving him a lot of space, but both looked concerned.

Thea put her hands on Warren's torso, signaling to him to turn so she could look at his wound.

"Leave it," he said, his voice emotionless.

"Warren, he scraped you. I need to see," Thea said, her voice actually quite gentle. She didn't know what was wrong with him both physically and emotionally.

"Goddamn it, Althea! Fucking leave it, okay?" he snapped angrily.

Thea flinched, never hearing him talk to her like that. His eyes were cold and angry and Thea had no clue what was going on.

"Look, he was a jerk. But don't be pissy at me when I didn't do anything," she fired back.

Warren snorted. "Oh, yeah, you didn't do anything," he said sarcastically as he looked at her coldly.

Thea never knew the meaning of a verbal slap until that moment. She easily remembered the dancing and the kisses and all that sexual tension between them that had had a momentary outlet. She did something wrong? No way.

"I didn't do anything you didn't want, so don't you dare start with that. Let me just…" she said as she touched his torso softly again.

He shrugged her off violently and something in Thea broke. Just moments ago he was leaning into her touch. He stepped away from her and would not look at her. She at least got to see that his chest was marred by ugly jagged scrape marks. But he wouldn't let her heal him.

"Fine," she said, feeling as though things were over before they had even begun.

Without a reply, Warren jumped into the air and flapped his wings, rising high in the air.

Thea watched him fly away. "Asshole."

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**Author's Note:** First off, I'm leaving in a week for a 3-week study abroad program, so I need to prep for travels and may not have internet access while abroad. I may not be able to update abroad but I will try to.

To address some things in the reviews: Thea is my own creation, so no one knows her deep dark secrets, but there have been strong clues throughout the story, especially during Thea's melt down when Kitty left for Alcatraz and during her conversation with her parents. Also, Warren is not perfect (but pretty awesome) and hopefully this chapter showed that.

And finally, I feel hurt when people complain about waiting four days for an update. Perhaps I should feel flattered because it means people are eager to read my story, but I don't. It feels like there's pressure on me to produce at a rate that I cannot satisfy, and that's not what writing fanfiction is to me. I want to be happy with what I write, and if that takes longer than the readers would like, I cannot help that because I want to produce a story that I am proud of rather than one that's just spit out in a timely fashion. As fun as writing fanfiction is and as much as I love this story, real life takes precedence. Updates, if anything, will be occurring less frequently because I haven't written the next chapters and because of my studies abroad. But hopefully my consistent updating in the past has been proof enough that I am very devoted to this story and I hope you guys will stick with me.

Anyway, I'm sorry if my mini tirade offended you, I don't mean to offend but merely present my situation and thoughts. I am very grateful for your support and honored by your praise, but I need to express my feelings. Hopefully I'll be able to get one more chapter out before I leave, but I can't guarantee anything. You guys know I will try my hardest though. This chapter has been the most challenging to write so far, so I would really appreciate your comments on it. Thanks so much for your support, as always!


	15. Chapter 15

Warren instantly regretted his move to fly because it was terribly cold and he was wearing no shirt. Even though he was part bird and his threshold for tolerating cold was greater than the average person, that threshold had been completely crossed, and Warren was freezing his ass off.

What made this all worse was that his body had been so hot from dancing with Thea, from kissing Thea…

Shit. He screwed everything up. No matter how hard he tried to be a great son or a great friend, his wings always screwed him up. He wanted to be normal so that his father could be proud of him and so that he could dance with Thea and not have his stupid fucking wings break out of the bindings because he had an orgasm. It wasn't too much to ask, was it?

And when that drunk bastard badgered him and Thea about his wings, who was the one who immediately stepped up and defended them? Thea. And where was Warren's head? Too consumed with all the embarrassment and fear from all those people staring at him, pointing their fingers at him, whispering at him, and laughing at him.

Hadn't he escaped all that already? Hadn't he matured enough to just fucking get over it? People would always stare and point and whisper and laugh, but the true test of character was brushing all of that off. Well, clearly, Warren's lacked that character. Instead he felt trapped, suffocated by people making fun of him and judging him and thinking he was less than human. It was an all too familiar and awful feeling.

And then the classic stupid guy thing to do is snap at the person who was just trying to help. None of this was Thea's fault and yet he cursed at her and purposely made her feel guilty for dancing with him so erotically, for making him feel what he felt. He was just trying to shift the blame from himself to her. He knew that, but he doubted she did. She probably thought he thought she was a whore.

Which he didn't. He had been really, really happy to see her and feel her lose her inhibitions around him. Although he had danced with other women, Thea was…different. Every touch, every look, every everything was so much more intense and meant so much more to Warren when it came from her because of the struggles their relationship had gone through. Warren never anticipated Thea would eventually be comfortable enough with him to grind her body so damn brilliantly against his.

But how was he supposed to know the heat and the friction and the pleasure from the dancing coupled by kissing her would make him lose control? He was a twenty-three year old man who had a decent amount of sexual experience. He never expected himself to just lose it while dancing of all things. That was something only young teenage boys did, right? Well, apparently not. And naturally his wings just had to shoot up like they always do whenever he lost it.

He could have prevented it from reaching that point. He knew she knew he had been fully aroused, but he doubted she knew how close he was to an orgasm. He could have pulled away, told her he needed to go to the bathroom or some other lame excuse like that, thus preventing the situation from escalating to embarrassment. But no. He didn't want to pull away, he only wanted more of Thea. He was a greedy bastard.

And to be honest, he had been worried that later on, Thea would purposely forget that the whole thing happened and they would go back to being just friends. Warren wanted to savor as much of the experience as possible because he didn't want them to be just friends. When did he make that realization? Hadn't he told Bobby just a few weeks ago that he didn't want a relationship with Thea? Well, that had been a blatant lie.

But lie or not, it didn't matter now. He had screwed up.

He hadn't anticipated actually losing control.

He hadn't anticipated feeling trapped and judged and laughed at by all those stupid people in the club.

And then he yelled at Thea, blamed Thea, and hurt Thea over his situation.

Damn it!

By the time Warren landed on the rooftop of the mansion, every part of his body was stiff and cold. He walked past Thea's room, a bit guiltily, and straight into the shower. He put the water on warm, which felt really hot to his frozen body, and let the water rush over him. The blood from his scraped stomach made the water run pink.

As his body warmed, the judgmental part of his mind that was scolding him quieted for a bit. He began to think about just the good stuff that happened between him and Thea before he had messed it all up.

She had looked so beautiful and Warren had found himself wanting to be with her very, very much. He had fleetingly entertained the thought of getting Thea piss ass drunk and then kissing her, knowing that the next day she wouldn't remember what happened but Warren would at least know what it was like to kiss her. But that was an awful idea that Warren knew he had only thought that because he was scared she didn't return his feelings. But when exactly did those feelings for Thea arise? Warren didn't even know. But upon entering the club after that confrontation with her in the parking lot, he had thought their relationship could go no further than friendship. So then he had entertained the thought of hooking up with Jubilee to forget his stupid angst, but as cute and flirtatious as Jubilee was, she wasn't the one he wanted, and it would be wrong to do that knowing he would be thinking of Thea.

And so, as Warren watched Thea dance from their table upstairs, he knew he was stuck, but at least they were in a club. He could ask her to dance and it wouldn't have to really be anything more than friendly. So that's what he did. But their dancing was certainly more than friendly. What had caught Warren so off guard was that Thea_ wanted_ to dance with him so intimately. That gave him confidence.

Maybe she did have deeper feelings for him after all.

As the hormones kicked in and the music raged on, all Warren wanted to do was kiss her. But the prospect of kissing Thea was rather scary considering their friendship. So, he did what every self-respecting young man in his situation would do. He kissed her shoulder in such a way that if she pulled back enraged, he could just say it was an accident as he was resting his head against her shoulder. Okay, so it was cowardly, but he had no desire to risk their friendship because of his hormones and possibly one-sided desires.

But instead of being enraged, she encouraged him. So hell, he went to town. He didn't know if her actions were just a byproduct of the atmosphere and come tomorrow she wouldn't want anything to do with his lips, so he was going to take advantage of it now. He wanted her to feel pleasure because of what he did, to show her how the chemistry that was evident between them could translate into more than just flirtation.

They could be good together. But since when did he want them to be together? He didn't know that either.

And soon enough he was aroused and she wasn't disgusted. If anything, she was encouraging that too. And as he found himself feeling such pleasure from her, he knew that this wasn't something they could just say was because they were in a club.

He wanted more. He was almost positive she wanted more. And then there was more.

When Thea kissed him, it was like a huge sigh of relief - an exhale, a "Finally!", an "Oh Thank God". He hadn't known how much he wanted to kiss her until their lips actually met. And then all he could think of was kissing her more.

And then with the grinding and the kissing and the elation he felt at the entire experience, Warren just had to lose it and…he didn't want to think about that embarrassing episode anymore. He had already lambasted himself for it.

Turning off the water, Warren stepped out of the steamy shower and wiped the foggy mirror to take a look at the scrape on his chest. It wasn't deep, but he should have let Thea heal it because it hurt like hell even after it was clean. Every movement of his torso stung. He rummaged through the first aid kit in the bathroom and found a big gauzy bandage and some tape. He placed it over the wound to cover most of it.

He thought about going to see Thea right then, but decided against it. She would probably cause him bodily harm, and although he deserved it, he wouldn't be able to apologize with a broken jaw.

When he was finally in his bedroom, he looked at his clock to see that it was 12:31am, New Year's Day. This wasn't the best way to start off the New Year.

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After getting up from a very uncomfortable sleep on his back because he didn't want to sleep on his wound, Warren's first order of business was finding Thea to apologize. He scoured her bedroom, the living room, the kitchen, the classrooms, outside in the garden, everywhere he could possibly think she would be, and yet he could not find her.

Warren came across Kitty and Peter cuddled close on the couch and talking quietly in the living room as Warren made yet another circuit around the mansion looking for Thea.

"Kitty, do you know where Althea is?" Warren asked.

Kitty glared at him and shot up from her seat. "Stay away from her," she growled.

Warren was taken aback. "Look, I know I screwed up…"

"Screwed up? That's what you call it? No, you royally FUCKED up," Kitty cursed angrily.

"Kitty…" Peter said calmly, getting up from the couch and touching her shoulder gently.

"No, don't baby me," she snapped at Peter. "I trusted you not to hurt her," she said turning her attention to Warren.

"I'm sorry. I need to talk to Althea and fix this," Warren said. He had no idea Kitty could get so upset. She was always such a happy girl.

"You know what she did after you flew off? Acted like nothing happened. We all saw you guys kissing, but she just acted like it was nothing. On the way back home, she just stayed quiet and stared out the window. She didn't curse or yell, she didn't do any of those things someone would normally do. When we got home, I tried to get her to talk, but she just smiled at me and said goodnight. Do you know how much effort faking all of that must have been for her? She wouldn't have done any of that unless she was so deeply hurt that she didn't even understand how hurt she was. And Thea understands everything! So I'll get mad for her, I'll yell for her, and I'll tell you to fuck off!" Kitty screamed.

Warren was very shocked. It looked like at any moment, Kitty would pounce on him. Kitty's reaction to seeing him was sobering. He knew he had hurt Thea, but he had no idea to what degree. Judging by Kitty's reaction, he had hurt Thea very badly. And he felt like shit for that.

"Kitty…I just…I want to talk to her. I want to apologize. I want her to yell at me and beat the crap out of me…I just…want her," Warren said ineloquently.

"Oh, so now you want her…" Kitty spat out.

"She's in the gym," Peter said, cutting in.

Kitty turned to her boyfriend ready start a fight with him for telling Warren.

"Thanks, man," Warren said appreciatively.

"Don't screw this up," Peter warned, his eyes fierce.

Warren ran out of the living room and headed towards the elevator. The gym was located downstairs next to the Danger Room for X-Men training. It was a large facility with different kinds of fitness equipment ranging from treadmills to yoga balls to free weights.

As Warren approached, he heard very loud grunting. When he arrived at the doorway of the gym, he saw Thea attacking a punching bag. She was wearing a tight black t-shirt, blue shorts, and red punching gloves. She would punch and grunt, kick and grunt, spin kick and grunt, uppercut and grunt…there was lots of attacking and grunting. She was quite good in form, and Warren only then truly understood that she had been groomed to be an X-Man. She even did one of those two-footed jump kicks that Warren could only do because he had wings that would help him out. Wow, she wasn't joking when she said she could beat him up.

She paused from her attack and took off her gloves to drink some water. Perspiration was dripping from her forehead and neck onto the shirt, and Warren found it oddly attractive. He was truly a lost cause, finding a sweaty girl attractive.

She looked towards the doorway and saw him standing there.

He smiled sheepishly. "You were seriously beating the shit out of that bag."

"Yeah. Well, it helps that I was imagining it was you," Thea deadpanned, dropping the water bottle.

Warren gulped. He deserved that. "Look, about what happened, I'm sorry."

"Whatever," she said simply.

"I shouldn't have just snapped at you and left like that," Warren continued.

"Whatever."

"I'm sorry for ruining your New Year's Eve."

"Whatever."

Warren sighed with frustration. He hated when she just shut down like this. "You're not making this any easier," he mumbled irritably.

"And why the fuck should I?" Thea spat out angrily, finally showing some type of emotion. "You give me this," she said tugging the collar of her shirt to the side to expose a very sizeable hickey on her neck, "and then talk to me like I'm some sort of skank when I try to help you. You don't deserve a break."

"You're right," he said, walking towards her slowly. "I just…I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything," he blurted out.

Thea was silent for a long time. Her breathing evened out as she thought about what he said. "You're sorry for everything?" she asked carefully.

Trust Thea to ask such a loaded question.

"No, no, I'm not sorry for everything…"

"Then what the hell are you sorry for, Warren?" Thea cut in impatiently.

She was quite bossy when she was pissed.

Warren wasn't sure how much he should reveal at that moment. Should he just spill his guts to her and hope she just didn't laugh at the mess? Should he hold back and bring up the topic of their relationship another day? What the hell, around her he was an expert at gut-spilling.

"I'm sorry for hurting you. I never meant to hurt your feelings and I didn't mean any of those things I said to you by the car. I was upset and I lashed out at the most convenient thing, and that was stupid and wrong and I'm sorry for that. But that's it. I'm not sorry for the dancing or the kissing. And I am damn proud of that hickey," Warren said assertively.

Thea looked at him sternly. "Okay," she said simply. She moved to walk around him, but he blocked her path.

"Okay? That's it?" he asked. The casual way she was dealing with this whole thing was disconcerting. She wasn't even acknowledging the mess of his guts that had spilled out.

Thea shrugged. "I'm over it."

"Then can we talk about us?" Warren asked.

"There is no 'us'," she said, her forceful tone faltering ever so slightly towards the end.

Warren frowned. He should have expected her to react like this. She gave him a chance, he flopped, and now she was backing away from everything.

"Althea..." he said in a panicked tone.

"What Warren?" Thea asked tiredly. "It doesn't matter."

"Of course it matters. There is an 'us'. 'Us' consists of you rolling your eyes at me and me making flirtatious comments that you just shoot down. 'Us' is me trying to get you to tell me secrets and you showing me how much of an asshole I am for pressuring you. There's always been an 'us', it just all came to a head yesterday and I screwed it all up. And I'm sure you'll hold it over my head forever, and I'll apologize for it forever, but there is an 'us'," he said passionately.

In a life filled with regret, uncertainty and the continual and unhealthy desire to please others (particularly his father), Warren never felt so sure of himself than he did just after his rather corny monologue. He wanted Thea – pure and simple. Well, it wasn't very simple because Thea would probably fight him on this, and his thoughts regarding Thea weren't very pure, but regardless, he knew what he wanted.

Thea was silent and she refused to look at him. She closed her eyes and clenched her jaw. "I hate how good that sounds," she confessed.

"Us?" he asked eagerly.

She opened her eyes and smirked. "No, you trying to get back on my good side," she said wryly.

Disappointment filled Warren. She was taking this all as a joke.

She looked at him critically until he felt like he was squirming under her scrutiny. "I'm just giving you a hard time. Payback," Thea said with a dry smile.

Warren exhaled audibly.

"I do like the sound," she revealed. "But the sound and the execution are two completely different things."

"Nothing much would change. We'd just throw in lots of kissing," Warren said with a charming smile.

Thea's very severe expression crumbled beginning with her eyes. Her eyes glittered with suppressed laughter, then her face broke out into a grin and she began to laugh.

He smiled at finally getting to hear that sound. It was a husky, light kind of laugh, if that made any sense.

"I also hate how I can't stay mad at you."

"And I'm quite relieved," Warren said.

"I should be kicking your ass right now," Thea said.

Warren stepped towards her. "Please do."

Thea rolled her eyes with annoyance. "Don't tempt me. If you ever talk to me again like you did yesterday, I will, you have my word," Thea threatened.

He knew that threat would never come to fruition because there was no way he would ever treat Thea like that again. "Agreed." He moved so that he was right in front of her, clearly in her personal space. "So, what do you think about us?"

Thea looked everywhere but at Warren.

"Okay, let's try a different question. Did you like my kissing?" he asked flirtatiously.

"No fishing, Warren."

Warren laughed. Shot down, once again. Yep, that was their relationship.

"Aw, c'mon. It's good to stroke a guy's ego once in a while," he said.

"You got plenty of stroking last night," Thea retorted cheekily.

Warren blushed at her bold comment. "Touché."

Thea smiled as she stepped a bit closer to him, so that she could rest her forehead on his chest.

"So…what do you want, Thea?" Warren asked. It was the first time he ever called her Thea, and for some reason, it felt much more intimate than when he called her by her full name.

"It's not a matter of what I want. It's a matter of what the consequences are," she explained.

"What would be the consequences of me kissing you right now?" he asked.

Thea looked at him skeptically. "Who said I wanted that?" she asked.

"If you didn't want that, you would have pushed me away, called me a pervert, and proceeded to use some of those fancy kicks on my groin area," Warren said knowingly.

"Good point," she conceded.

"So, what would be the consequences?" Warren pressed on, his voice lowering and in the process. He wondered if that was a good thing.

She tensed as she thought about his question. "I don't know, that's the problem. I…shit Warren, I miss that time when I knew what I was doing."

"When did that end?"

"The moment I healed you the first time," she replied.

"In the kitchen?" Warren asked. That was so long ago.

"You're so brilliant," she said sarcastically.

"So you haven't known what you've been doing this whole time with me?"

She was always so sure of herself, or at least that was how she seemed. He affected her that much so that she didn't know what she was doing when she was around him? That was a very odd compliment, but also very unnerving. He had no idea he had that type of power over her.

Thea was clearly flustered. "No…I mean…no. You just waltz in and want to be my friend and make me…feel," she finished lamely.

"And that's bad?" Warren asked.

"No, but it makes things more complicated."

"You're the queen of complexity though. Shouldn't be anything you can't handle," he jested.

She snorted.

He held her gently against him, not caring that she was wet with sweat. He suspected he would have found it rather gross, but he didn't. He was a goner when it came to her.

"What do you want, Thea?" he asked again.

Thea inhaled deeply but was silent for a while. "This," she finally said.

Warren felt a surge of confidence at her answer.

"But I would suck at any semblance of a relationship, and that wouldn't be fair for you," she said.

"What do you call what we're in? I wasn't really joking when I said it would sort of be like how we are now but with lots of kissing. We're in a relationship now and it's going well, I think. Confusing, but good."

"What we're in right now is a friendship. If we just add kissing, it would be friends with benefits…"

He squeezed her tightly as warning bells sounded in his mind. "I don't want friends with benefits," he said adamantly. "That's not what I meant." Friends with benefits rarely ended well. One friend would get emotionally invested and wind up getting hurt. Also, it didn't apply to them because he was already emotionally invested, and it seemed she was too.

Thea smiled weakly. "I know. I'm being difficult. But I can't do all those mushy, gushy things that girlfriends should do."

"What makes you think I want that?"

"It not a matter of what you want, it's a matter of what I should be capable of doing if I were in a relationship with a guy. I should be able to be affectionate like Kitty or Marie. I should be able to open up to you and tell you all my embarrassing shit. I should…"

"Althea," Warren said sternly. "Don't do this."

He didn't want her to start with the whole self-deprecating thing. He was a pro at it, and it never led anywhere.

"You deserve someone who isn't so screwed up," Thea said.

"Stop this. You're being stupid. That makes it sound like I'm better than you or some other fucked up shit like that, but that's not true. I'm screwed up too," Warren pointed out. "My behavior yesterday when I snapped at you is testament to that."

Thea was silent.

"We're both dysfunctional. I think that's why we're so good together," Warren said.

Thea snorted. "I don't want you to settle," she said, turning serious once again.

"I'm not settling," Warren said adamantly.

"Yeah, you are. You're settling for whatever I'm capable of being rather than what I should be," Thea pointed out.

How could she think she wasn't good enough for him? Granted she was closed off and she had problems and she wanted to be "better" than she was, but honestly, she was so great just as she was. He would gladly take her with all her idiosyncrasies and weird mood swings and occasional snappy attitude…all of it.

"Then you're settling too. So we'll settle together and live happily ever after, okay?" Warren said easily.

"Warren, I'm serious."

"I am too."

Thea had no response to that.

"Let's try it out, okay? We can even promise that no matter what happens, we'll always be friends, or something else equally cliché out of a chick flick," Warren said.

Thea laughed. He really did love how it sounded.

Things quieted down and Warren waited for her to say something. She had a thoughtful and tentative expression on her face. Finally, she looked him straight in the eye.

"Okay," she said softly.

Warren felt like jumping up and down in celebration, but that would look stupid and give Thea too much ammunition to make fun of him with later on.

"Okay then," he mumbled with suppressed glee before dipping his head so that their lips met in a soft kiss. When Warren broke the kiss, Thea immediately kissed him and then there was just a lot of wonderful kissing. Things weren't frenzied like before. Their kissing was languid but passionate at the same time.

He tried to think of kissing techniques that would impress Thea, but honestly, his brain wasn't functioning very much. Luckily, Thea didn't seem to mind.

Her warm hand snaked under his shirt and Warren moaned in delight as he felt the cool air of the gym hit his exposed skin. She broke away from the kiss to examine his chest. Warren groaned in annoyance because they were not kissing anymore.

"You did a really bad job fixing this up," Thea said, peeling the bandage off of his chest.

"I really didn't care at the moment," Warren said. "I still don't. Can we go back to kissing?"

Thea rolled her eyes. "You've already turned into a hormonal beast," she muttered irritably.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

She ignored his comment. "I want to fix this," she said bending down to examine the streaks of red on his chest.

"Okay, but then can we kiss?" Warren asked impishly.

Thea gave him a rather devilish look before placing her lips near an area of his chest that was scraped.

"Oh, whoa," Warren gasped out at the sight of Thea's lips on his chest. Then he felt a tingly sensation spread through him from Thea's lips. Thea kissed another spot and that spot felt tingly too. He watched as the places she put her lips were no longer red. She was healing him with her lips. It was definitely one of the more erotic things he had ever seen and felt.

When she was done, she wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled. "Not as effective as the hands but…"

She couldn't finish what she wanted to say because Warren was kissing her passionately.

"That…what so hot," Warren said appreciatively.

She grinned. "I know," she said arrogantly.

Warren just laughed.

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**Author's Note:** I have great reviewers. Thank you! The last chapter was very difficult to write, and so I'm really glad that you guys received it so warmly. I'm also glad you thought it was realistic. Stuff like the lesbian comment actually happened to me in real life. Go figure.

Specifically, to the reviewer who goes by **sadi**: I totally did not mean you when I was addressing my resentment towards feeling the pressure to update. I was addressing a specific review that was asking where the update was because it had been four days already. Hoping for "updates soon" I completely understand assuming reviewers understand that the writer may not be able to provide. So, sadi, don't feel bad, your grasp of English is fantastic and I appreciate your continual support and reviews.

To all my reviewers, I am off to Japan soon. I don't know if I'll have internet, but I'll be thinking of what to write next and so when I return I'll try to post asap. I want to thank you guys so much for all your support and patience. I hope you like this chapter. Please let me know what you think!


	16. Chapter 16

For someone who claimed to not be affectionate, Thea was starting out the New Year pretty damn affectionately. But perhaps affectionately wasn't the right word. Perhaps hormonally was a better description. Regardless, wherever this relationship with Warren was going, she was having a very nice time so far.

Admittedly, Thea had been quite upset at Warren for cursing at her and then fleeing like a coward on New Year's Eve, but his apology was a very mature and smart move on his part. For once the old adage that "boys are stupid" was not quite true. She could feel her defenses being picked away with every word of that apology. It wasn't fair that she couldn't think quite clearly in his presence because all she could think about was how much better his lips would be at kissing than talking. But that was the hormonal side flaring up…again. The rational side of her said that getting into a relationship with Warren was a very, very bad idea for a host of reasons starting with his father and ending with her emotional walls. However, it was neither the hormones nor the logic that prevailed but instead the intense desire that stemmed from Thea's heart.

She wanted to be with him. She didn't care if she sucked at it, she didn't care if it was a bad move. She wanted to try.

And so far, it was going pretty well. They didn't spend twenty-hours a day together, much to Warren's apparent chagrin. She didn't sleep over in his room, and he didn't sleep over in hers. He hadn't broached the subject, but when he got up to leave from a very long and intense make-out session with her during the night, Thea did nothing to stop his departure, and Thea figured he got the hint. It wasn't as though Thea didn't want him to sleepover. She had even pictured it many times: they could fall asleep together, wake up and make out a lot, and fall asleep again. But Thea was concerned that if Warren slept over, their physical activities would go further than she was psychologically ready to go.

It was just a week ago that they were spending less time with each other and Thea was concerned with Warren's possible affections for Jubilee. Thea knew herself well enough to know that mentally she was not ready to have any possible variety of sex with Warren for at least a while, but she also knew that with a little encouragement from him, the hormonal side of her would not hesitate to jump his bones because that was how bad she wanted him. So, although conflicted, her mind won over, and she decided she needed a bit of time to gain some perspective.

She was in a relationship for goodness sake! And it was her first one. And it was a given that she would suck at it. And the father of her boyfriend (oh goodness, boyfriend?) was an evil monster.

But so far, at least, she hadn't screwed anything up. However, she was petrified that she would. Now she was more aware of every little action, reaction, word, and glance she and Warren shared. It was like everything was intensified and everything had the possibility of meaning more than the surface value. Sure Warren said nothing much would change once they got into a relationship, but things had drastically changed. Thea had gone from being relatively independent to thinking about how Warren would think about something at any given time. For example, Kitty asked her to have dinner with her, and Thea's first thought had been that she would need to tell Warren that she wasn't having dinner with him. This sort of thing never happened before they were together, and Thea hadn't yet discerned if she liked this discovery or not.

During that dinner with Kitty, Thea had told her best friend about her new relationship with Warren. Thea had thought Kitty would be really excited about the whole thing, but instead she was very cautious and skeptical. Thea figured it was because Kitty realized how vulnerable Thea was to getting hurt by Warren, which was exemplified when Warren snapped at Thea outside of the club. However, Thea reassured Kitty that if Warren hurt her again, she would pulverize him. And after that, there was much excited squealing over the new relationship.

"Yay, you guys are a couple!" Kitty had said.

Couple. Good God what had Thea gotten herself into?

Like in most blossoming relationships, hers and Warren's consisted of a lot of kissing and a bit of flirtatious talking in between more kissing. Thea allowed herself to feel cautious elation about being in a relationship. She was cautious because she knew that eventually she would need to tell Warren everything, or nearly everything, and she was very scared she would lose him in the process. But she was elated. Warren made her so happy, and that was so much more than she had expected to ever feel again.

It was a week and a half into their relationship, and they were lying comfortably on Thea's bed side by side and facing each other. Thea was stroking the short stubble that littered Warren's chin and jaw, and Warren watched Thea's ministrations with fascination.

"I didn't know you had such an affinity for facial hair," Warren said as his arm rested comfortably over her hip.

Thea smirked. "I don't. That's why I'm trying to figure out why I like yours so much," she replied.

"Because it's on me," he answered easily.

Thea rolled her eyes.

"C'mon, no need for that when you know it's true," Warren insisted.

Thea didn't respond because perhaps he had a point. However, there was a matter she did want to breech, and now seemed like a good time since she had his full attention and they weren't preoccupied with kissing.

"Warren, I wanted to ask you something, but if you don't want to answer, it's okay," she prefaced.

"Okay."

"Why were you so upset after we left the club?"

She had been wondering this for a while now, but was waiting for a time to ask him when he could give a full explanation. Until now, they had been doing so much kissing that there wasn't really a time to slow down and talk about touchy feely stuff. Besides, Thea did not handle touchy feely stuff well, so the longer she could stave her curiosity, the better.

She could feel his body stiffen on the bed. His jaw clenched and unclenched as she touched it.

"Don't answer that," she said quickly with a small smile. She didn't want him to feel uncomfortable.

"No, it's okay."

There was silence.

"Do you want the long or short version?" Warren asked.

Thea looked at him wryly. "We have plenty of time," she said.

"Right. Well, uh, I never told you, but my father decided to design the Cure because of me," Warren said.

Thea wasn't surprised, but it was strange to know that it was a certainty. Worthington had promised her that she would be contributing to the betterment of mankind where in fact he was trying to use her to "fix" his son. And now she was in a relationship with that very same son and he wasn't "fixed." Oh, the irony.

"He's a very normal man. He likes things to be normal, and I knew that ever since I was old enough to realize anything about my father. He liked being at the top of the status quo. I was an okay kid, not super athletic or a musical protégé or something like that, but I wasn't a bad kid and my dad would always say that he was proud of me. And so when my wings started coming out, I think I was twelve, I knew that my dad was going to be disappointed, and so I didn't let him know," Warren explained.

Thea furrowed her brow in confusion. "But couldn't he tell because the wings protruded from your back?"

Warren shifted under her gaze and averted his eyes. "I…I cut them off," he said uncomfortably.

Cut them? Oh God…

"How?" Thea managed to choke out.

Warren shrugged beside her. "With whatever I could find. Scissors, kitchen knives…saws worked pretty well…" he replied, a funny, distant quality to his voice.

Thea wasn't a very empathetic or sympathetic person usually. Her attitude was that everyone experienced pain, and everyone had to just deal with it. But this…this rocked her to the core. It amazed her the great lengths someone had gone to hide himself from those who were supposed to love him unconditionally. This was how dire the situation had been. And to top that off, it was Warren…her Warren.

Thea felt an unfamiliar ache in her chest and sat up abruptly to breathe deeply. She closed her eyes, trying to wrap her head around what Warren had just said, but she just couldn't. She never physically hurt herself to hide who she was. She never doubted her parents' love. She had no reference point for something like this, and it was a disorienting feeling. She felt so helpless because there was nothing she could do to make the situation better.

Breathe.

"Thea, it was over ten years ago," Warren said, sitting up to stroke her back affectionately behind her.

"Right," she said, her voice faltering as she continued to have her back to him.

Time was supposed to heal all wounds, but Thea never believed that cliché. She couldn't imagine the psychological trauma Warren had been exposed to, and it frustrated and scared her.

Breath, just breath. An inhale hitched in her throat and she coughed inelegantly.

She struggled to suppress the sting in the back of her throat, and how her nose suddenly became runny, but it wasn't working. Tears were leaking out of her eyes and she quickly wiped them away. This was stupid, she was being such a weak little girl, crying when her boyfriend told her of a past scar. No…no…this ran far deeper than that. Another tear leaked out, and she brushed that one furiously away, her chest still aching and her head swimming with too many things to even identify.

"I didn't want a pity party," he said stiffly from behind her.

"No," she said eagerly, her voice cracking. Her mouth felt dry and heavy. She couldn't understand why she was losing such control over her ability to speak, and the ache in her chest was not subsiding. "I don't…it's not pity…I…" She didn't even know how to finish the sentence.

"Well, whatever it is, just…don't. I didn't tell you this to make you feel sorry for me," Warren said with a hint of annoyance.

He didn't understand! This was beyond feeling sorry for him, this was feeling pain, an unnamable but crystal clear pain. Thea twisted her body towards his and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her arms brushed against his feathers and then she began truly crying. She felt so foolish crying, but she couldn't control it.

When her baby brother died, she had cried out of guilt. When she realized Worthington wasn't the nice man he had presented himself as, she had cried out of fear. And when Kitty went to Alcatraz, she had cried out of shame. But this was a completely different experience. She was crying because…she didn't even know why. She just felt so…she couldn't even explain it.

"Woah, okay," Warren said, his tone holding none of the irritation it did earlier. He stroked her back affectionately.

He must have thought she was a complete nut after this.

She didn't know how long she cried, and Warren didn't say anything else to her as she emotionally threw up on him. He just continued to stroke her back and hold her.

"Fuck," she mumbled once her crying had lessened to occasional sniffles. "I'm such an ass."

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. I was supposed to be listening to your story and then I just…sorry," she said, pulling away from the hug and feeling very stupid. Now he probably wouldn't want to tell her anything for fear that she would always cry on him afterwards.

"No, it's okay," Warren said comfortingly. He looked like he was trying to figure something out, but Thea didn't bother asking what it was.

"I wasn't...that wasn't pity, it was…"

"Sympathy?" Warren asked.

Thea shook her head. "No, more than that. But it wasn't empathy because I never went through something quite like that. But..."

"You don't need to name it," Warren said softly.

Thea gave him a weak smile. "Okay." There was a long awkward silence in which Thea's mind was castigating her emotional reaction to Warren's words, was trying to figure out why she had such a strong reaction, and was wondering if Warren was going to continue talking. Hopefully she hadn't scared him into silence.

Eventually Warren continued, but with an embarrassed and uncomfortable quality to his voice. "My dad caught me one time in the bathroom, while I was cutting my wings. There was blood and feathers everywhere and I tried to stall before he opened the bathroom door, but I couldn't stall enough. When he saw me…in his eyes, there was such…disgust. He was horrified and upset and disappointed, and disgusted. He looked at me like it was the end, like my life was over because the only way to have a life is to be normal. And I…I believed him. Since I couldn't be normal, I tried so hard to look as normal as possible. Strapped down my wings, never talked about them, but you know, people knew I was the rich kid with wings sprouting from his back."

Thea was silent because she didn't know what she could possibly say.

"I was never really sure if the friends I made were because I was rich, despite the fact that I was rich, because I had wings, despite the fact that I had wings…you know? I just…I never knew if anyone liked me just because I was…me."

More silence.

"And there were also those people who were quite emphatic about their disgust towards me, particularly because of my wings. They would just stare and point and whisper. The worst ones were the ones who would stare and then avert their eyes once I saw them, as though they weren't looking at me and thinking I was a freak. I knew I shouldn't give a fuck what they thought of me, most of them were strangers anyway, but it did matter to me. It mattered that I felt…lower than them."

"And at the club, they were staring and pointing and talking," Thea said, realizing the connection.

"Yeah. The thing with that bastard who called you a whore, that was a completely different response. That was…I was pissed that he was attacking you. But when I snapped at you, I was more upset at myself for letting those other people who were watching me like I was a freak show get under my skin once again. I mean, so much has changed since that time when the staring and talking would bother me, so I had thought it was all behind me. But it's not. And so I was pissed at myself for letting them have such control over me still. I'm still that weakling I was before," Warren said.

"You're not weak," Thea said. "A weak person wouldn't have come here and done all the good you have, or risked his life being part of the X-Men, or tolerated my presence like you have."

Warren chuckled and touched Thea's cheek gently. His warm hands felt cool on her face, probably because the crying made her cheeks hot.

"You don't give yourself enough credit," he mumbled. He sounded a bit vulnerable.

Thea didn't know what he meant by that.

Warren cleared his throat. "Anyway, my wings, sometimes they do things that I can't control. And I...you…you…shit, it all felt so fucking good when I was dancing with you. And I…was…aroused."

"You don't say," Thea said cheekily.

Warren cracked a smile. "I know you knew. But you didn't know _how__much_."

What the hell did that mean? Suddenly it clicked.

"You…came?" she asked him bluntly. She instantly regretted the question. It was really personal, perhaps too personal, and there was no reason why Warren should have to answer that.

"Yes."

But he did answer. Thea didn't really understand too much about men and their mentality towards ejaculation, but she was fairly certain that having an orgasm while dancing in public was on the list of embarrassing experiences rather than things to be proud about.

"And your wings…"

"They shoot up against my back when I do," Warren explained awkwardly.

Things were making more sense now. If Warren hadn't had an orgasm, he wings wouldn't have broken the bindings, and people wouldn't have known he was a mutant, and they wouldn't have stared at him and made him feel like a circus freak.

"So it kinda was my fault," she said.

"What? No. You're being an idiot," Warren said.

Thea snorted. "I'm so glad I have such a supportive boyfriend." The word 'boyfriend' came off her lips and tongue so effortlessly. It was quite surreal.

Warren looked at her with a knowing expression. He had caught that word. Boyfriend…gah, what was she thinking? Sure they were dating, sure they were, she supposed, boyfriend and girlfriend, but she actually said it! And it was so easy! What kind of mush ball had she become?

"It's not your fault. I could have stopped us dancing, but I didn't want to," Warren said, avoiding the topic of the b-word completely.

Well, if he was going to avoid it, she was too.

"Because I'm such an excellent dancer," Thea said, feigning arrogance.

Warren smiled as though he was assuaging her. "Absolutely," he said.

"What, I'm not a good dancer?" she asked defensively.

"No, you're a great dancer."

"You didn't sound too convinced when you said 'absolutely.'"

"Well, I'm quite convinced."

"You're keeping something from me," Thea said.

"I keep lots of things from you," Warren countered.

That perked Thea's interest. "Really? Like what?"

Warren laughed. "I'm not an idiot."

Thea smiled. "Not all of the time."

Suddenly she felt fingers everywhere as Warren proceed to tickle her mercilessly. And all coherent thought went out the proverbial window as Warren's lips crashed down on hers once again.

* * *

Author's Note: I'm back! I'm very sorry for the long wait. Japan was wonderful, and right after Japan, I had to take some standardized tests for graduate school and get back to college, so it's been a whirlwind of stuff to do. I never forget this story though and I promise, no matter if the gap between updates seems long, I am thinking about what to write and writing it up to post as soon as I can. I WILL FINISH THIS STORY. But it may take longer now that school has started. Life does have to come first.

In any case, after this chapter the plot will move forward once again. I thought a reflective chapter on Thea's part is essential to get at what she's feeling and how she may not even understand how she feels across. I'm glad so many people enjoyed the last chapter where Warren steps up and makes his move. I warn you that I haven't written the next chapter yet, so it'll take a while now. But it'll get done. I hope you liked this chapter, please let me know what you think!


	17. Chapter 17

"Warren! Side step, side step! No, ah! Horizontal attack, now!" Peter said eagerly.

But it was too late, Warren's character crumpled to the floor, knocked out. By a girl.

Warren heard a satisfied chuckle to his left and glared at the chuckler sitting next to him. Thea smiled as she readjusted herself on the couch. Warren glared at her before handing the video game controller over to Peter so he could take a crack at beating her. So far no one had. The only breaks Thea was taking was when she voluntarily handed over her controller because her fingers needed a break.

"You need to learn to sidestep or block. You can't just attack, attack, attack, you'll die every time," Thea said as she proceeded to fight Peter's character.

"Hey, this is my first time playing," Warren said.

"All the more reason to develop good technique now," Thea countered. "Oh, damn! Nice block, Pete," she added. Her character's combo attack with her staff did no damage as Peter's character held up his sword in defense.

"Thanks," Peter said, his eyes wide with concentration.

"It's okay, Warren," Kitty consoled, as she watched the television screen. "The learning curve on fighting video games is pretty steep at first. You'll be able to beat Thea after a few sessions."

Warren heard Thea snicker.

"Thanks for your support, _dear_," Warren said.

"Anytime, _honeybunny_," Thea said.

"Ah, damn!" Peter said as they all watched his character crumple to the floor as well.

"You totally had me, Pete," Thea said. "That was just luck."

"Even so," Peter sighed. "I only beat you like twenty percent of the time."

"But if you wanted to beat her more, you would have to play as much as Thea does, and that means I wouldn't get to see you," Kitty said, getting off the couch and pulling Peter with her. "We've played for two hours, time for a change."

"Fair enough," Peter conceded as he got off the couch. "I'm going to beat you consistently…some day," he said to Thea.

Thea smiled. "I'd like to see you try," she dared.

Peter laughed and walked off with Kitty to the kitchen.

Warren looked over at Thea to find her looking at him already. She put her hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

"You're not really mad, are you?" Thea asked.

Warren shrugged. "Not mad, just…"

"Embarrassed that a girl beat you so soundly at a video game?" Thea supplied.

"When you put it like that, I sound like such a loser."

Thea climbed onto his lap, and the pressure of her weight was a comfort. Warren had to remember to get her to do that more often. She kissed his cheek before wrapping her arms around his neck.

"You're not a loser in real life, just a loser at video games."

Warren laughed uneasily. "Wow, thanks Althea, you sure know how to make a man feel…like a man." He knew she was just teasing him, but sometimes, the things she said really got to his ego.

Thea's eyebrows creased with concern. "You know I'm joking, right?"

Warren nodded. "Yeah."

"I'm serious," Thea said sternly.

"You're serious that you were joking?" Warren said.

Thea opened her mouth to reply, but closed it soon afterwards having said nothing.

Warren smirked. "I like it when I leave you speechless," he teased.

Thea smacked him playfully on the chest, and Warren remembered that a girl hitting a guy was a good sign rather than a bad one.

"I'm just sorry if I bruised your ego," she explained quietly with her eyebrows furrowed as she stroked the place she had hit him almost unconsciously.

Warren reached up to kiss her forehead. "Don't worry about it."

Seeing her concerned about the well-being of his ego was actually an ego boost in of itself. It was sort of weird, really. Thea wasn't the mushy-gushy type who would expound upon the many wonderful qualities he had that made her like him. It had surprised him how emotional she got when he had talked about his struggles with his wings while growing up. But that, too, had been an ego boosting experience. To get Thea, the non-mushy-gushy type to become all gushy must mean that she cared about him greatly. That meant a lot to Warren.

However, a month into their relationship, she had yet to show that level of emotion towards him again. Instead, she continued doing what she did best – giving him a hard time. But the little time-outs from the endless banter and ribbing gave Warren reassurance that underneath all those playful insults was genuine affection and concern. He would never tell her this though because that made him seem a little too much like the mushy-gushy one in the relationship, and he wasn't, obviously.

"Okay," she said, moving to place her forehead lightly on his.

A comfortable silence passed for a few moments where all Warren could see was the tip of Thea's nose that led eventually to the lips he wanted to kiss.

"You know," Thea said, breaking his train of thought, "you can always pick up a different hobby. One that I suck at. Like…cross-stitching."

Warren leaned back to see Thea's bright, glistening eyes challenging him to retaliate. The tender moment was gone, but that was okay with Warren. There would be more, he was sure.

"Very funny, _dear_," Warren said just as his stomach began to gurgle. "Hm, I think Kitty and Peter had the right idea. Let's get some food." He tapped her hip gently as a signal for her to get off of him, albeit he was reluctant for her to go.

"It's around time for dinner anyways. Afterwards, I need to grade some essays," Thea replied as they walked towards the kitchen. Another semester at Xavier's School for the Gifted had begun in early January, and already Thea's mutant ethics class had turned in their first assignment.

"I'm going to head over to see my dad after dinner," Warren said.

Out of the corner of his eye Warren saw Thea's posture stiffen ever so slightly at the mention of Warren's father. He wasn't stupid – he had noticed Thea's uneasiness regarding his father before, but didn't know what to attribute it to. His best guess was that Thea was intimidated by the volume of money Warren's father possessed, and now that she was Warren's girlfriend, she was all the more concerned with measuring up to his father's expectations while knowing that because she was a mutant, she could never truly live up to whatever expectations his father had. It was a pretty complex hypothetical reason, which made all the more likely to be the right one considering Thea's penchant for complexity.

"Just for a visit?" Thea asked.

"Yeah. I haven't seen him since Christmas, so it's been a month. I figure I should see him at least once a month. He's the only family I have. Well…blood family," Warren said, glancing at Thea to gauge her reaction.

Thea tentatively smiled, though she didn't look at him. "That's true," she said as they started pulling out food to make sandwiches.

"Would you come with me?" Warren asked.

Thea pursed her lips, but before she could say anything, Warren wanted to clarify.

"It just, we're, you know, 'us' now, and I thought it would be important for him to meet you because, you know, you're important, the most important," Warren explained rather poorly. The most important? There wasn't even a noun in that sentence those words were modifying. He mentally castigated himself for his ineloquence.

However, he did enjoy seeing Thea blush just a bit. "Your way with words is just so mesmerizing," she teased.

"Yeah, well, my good looks make up for it," he bantered, regaining his confidence.

Thea rolled her eyes.

"So, what do you say?" Warren asked, alluding to his previous question.

"I can't," Thea said.

She didn't say anything more, and Warren found himself quite annoyed. He understood that there were things about Thea that she wasn't comfortable talking about. He understood that she wanted to talk to him about things and just couldn't open herself up a lot of the time. But despite this awareness, the curt or vague answers he would often get from her got quite infuriating. On more than one occasion he contemplated using his voucher to extract a big secret from her, but now that they were in a relationship, it seemed weird to make her tell him something because their emotions were more closely tied now. To put it plainly, he would feel guilty using the voucher. But why couldn't she just explain herself? Why couldn't she just…tell him? He was only asking her to meet his father. He'd be more than willing to meet her parents if ever she decided to tell him where they were! He knew he shouldn't take it personally, but for some reason, he had hoped that getting into a relationship with her would mean a bit more access to the deeper crevices of her heart.

"Fine," he said, pushing his dark thoughts aside and trying to enjoy the fact that he was with Thea to begin with. They had come a long way these past six months, and Warren was grateful for that.

"Fine? That's it?" Thea asked from across the kitchen as she rummaged the cabinets for some chips. "No 'give me a reason why' or 'don't you think I deserve an explanation?'"

Warren shrugged as he spread some mayonnaise onto his wheat bread. He didn't know if she saw him since his back was to her.

At an instant Thea was in his personal space. She didn't say anything, just looked at him while he tried to ignore her. However, it became too unnerving and Warren had to stop making his sandwich.

"What?" he snapped.

Thea didn't seem at all surprised by his tone. She looked at him with a small smile on her face, which only further annoyed Warren since her expression seemed so different from what he was feeling.

"You're wonderful," she said gently before pressing her lips to his ever so softly.

Her tone coupled by her actions caught Warren completely off guard. He cleared his throat before shrugging again. "You're welcome."

Thea smirked before kissing him again. "I know you deserve more," she said, a hint of regret in her voice.

She was right. He deserved to know more. But perhaps she deserved a break. After all, the fact that she knew that she was shutting him out and willing to address that made the situation slightly better…right? At least she owned up to her shortcomings. However, Warren still wanted to know things. Eventually, perhaps, he would. Eventually.

"Yeah, yeah, nothing a couple of make out sessions can't fix," Warren teased.

Thea laughed and slapped his rear end playfully.

"Oh, I like that," Warren said devilishly.

Thea only laughed harder and Warren's heart swelled just a little bit more.

After their dinner of soup, sandwiches and chips, Warren flew to San Francisco to see his father. He didn't really know what could be accomplished by these meetings, but he knew he needed them. It was pathetic, but Warren needed that reassurance.

His father opened the door after just one ring of the doorbell.

"Warren," his father said, a small smile on his face.

"Hi Dad," Warren said.

There was an awkward pause until his father seemed to regain his footing. "I'm sorry, come in, come in. This is your home too." He stepped aside to allow Warren to enter.

Home. It had been a long time since Warren considered the posh house in San Francisco to be truly home. At the thought of home lately, only images of Thea popped into his mind.

"Get comfortable," his father said, leading him to the living room. "Do you want some coffee?"

"Sure," Warren said. "Thanks." Warren sat down on the couch. The slightly slim-fitting jeans he wore were a bit uncomfortable with the bulge his wallet and keys were making, so he took them out and placed them on the table. Thea had teased him about such girly looking pants but Kitty had reassured him they weren't girly at all or even metro-sexual.

"Here you go," his father said, coming from the kitchen with two mugs of coffee.

"Great," Warren said, taking a sip of the hot liquid that warmed his body. "How are you?"

"Well, I'm doing well. The company took a bit of a hit with the publicity of the incident, but we're surviving. We're trying to expand and develop treatments for other conditions," his father said.

"You mean other than mutations?"

"Yes, like cancer, AIDS. It's a race to the finish line among all the labs to be the first with treatments that can truly cure these conditions, and I want to make sure Worthington does not lag behind."

"Ambitious," Warren commented. He wasn't surprised in the least. It was actually liberating that his father did not seem as hung up on the mutant vaccination anymore. It made Warren feel he wasn't the driving force behind his father's work anymore.

"So, did you fly here?" his father asked, eyeing the wings that were sprouting from the sweater Warren was wearing.

"Yeah. Cheaper," Warren.

Dr. Worthington's eyebrows furrowed. "Are you having some money troubles son?" he asked.

"What?" Warren paused to see if his father would realize that he was only making a joke, but his father's reaction remained unchanged. "No, I'm fine. I get paid teaching economics at the school. And room and board are free," Warren explained.

His father's eyebrows remained furrowed. "It still sounds like a halfway home," he commented.

Warren felt his frustration rise. "It's far from that, Dad."

"Regardless," his father said, reaching into his back pocket to pull out his wallet, "I want to make sure you don't go without."

"I'm not going without."

"Here," his father said, as though he weren't even listening to Warren. He took out five hundred-dollar bills from his wallet and reached for Warren's wallet on the table.

"Dad, really, I'm fine," Warren protested, placing a hand over his wallet to stop his father.

Dr. Worthington and Warren's eyes met. Although Warren had looked at his father, he hadn't truly seen him. His father was tired. His eyes, although wrinkled with age for years, actually looked worn out, duller.

Warren leaned back, removing his hand from the wallet.

"Okay, thanks Dad," he said.

Dr. Worthington brightened and opened the wallet to put the money in it. However, something caught his eyes in what seemed to be a flash of recognition, and Warren wondered fleetingly if he had left a condom in there by accident.

"Who is this?" Dr. Worthington asked, flipping the wallet so that Warren could see what had caught his attention.

Dr. Worthington was pointing to a picture of Thea that Kitty had taken on New Year's Eve before the whole kissing and subsequent fighting Thea and Warren had experienced. In the picture she was sitting at the table they had snagged with her chin resting in her palm and a small smile on her face. Warren had cut the picture to fit snugly in his wallet.

"Thea, the girl I mentioned before, during Christmas," Warren said, remembering clearly how Thea had gotten when he had told her he had mentioned her to his father. For similarly unknown reasons, he doubted she would be happy that his father had seen that picture of her.

Warren's father reexamined the picture for a few moments. "So you two are seeing each other?"

"What makes you say that?" Warren asked, a bit protectively.

Dr. Worthington's eyes rose from the picture to his son. "Why else would you have her picture in your wallet?"

Warren laughed uneasily. "Good point," he conceded. "Yeah, we're together."

"She lives at the mansion, right?"

"Yeah," Warren said, still feeling anxious about continuing this discussion. It almost felt like he was indirectly hurting Thea. "But I'd rather talk about other stuff."

"Sure, sure," his father said amiably as he tucked the money into the wallet and set it back down on the table. "So, how's the rest of life?"

* * *

Author's Note: Hi, yes, I know, it's been 7 months. So, before you give me a virtual beating that you rightfully should give me, let me explain. I met a boy, we got together, and it became hard to write. Our relationship started in October, just as I was writing the beginnings of Thea and Warren's relationship. Writing about the beginnings of a relationship was very, very uncomfortable when I was experiencing the beginnings of a relationship myself. I needed to have some distance between my real life and my writing. Now, after seven months, I'm in at a more stable part of my real-life relationship, and I can write this story with the distance that I am comfortable with. Hopefully this means that I will be writing more, and therefore updating more frequently. However, life always takes its unexpected turns and thus I can't promise frequent, regular updates. What I will promise is that I WILL FINISH THIS STORY. I like writing this story, and I know where it's going. It will get written, it will get posted, but I'm just not sure of the timeframe.

Anyway, thanks for the continued support during my absence, and I hope you all with stick with me. Take care and please let me know what you think!


	18. Chapter 18

"What are you getting Warren for Valentine's Day?" Kitty asked Thea while the girls were hanging out in Thea's room, just staring at the ceiling. It was a cold day, Warren and Bobby and Peter were playing foosball, and the girls opted for lazing around without the testosterone that builds when little plastic guys with legs melded together kick around a ball.

"Uh…" Thea wasn't a fan of Valentine's Day, which was only 2 days away, and Kitty knew why. She must have forgotten.

"Because I'm really stuck. I have no idea what to get Peter, and this is our first Valentine's Day and well, I don't want it to suck," Kitty said.

"Kit..."

"And I think lingerie would be a little to, you know, tacky. Maybe it is was pretty looking, something with lace, but not vixen or dominatrix lace. Wait, dominatrixes wear leather, right?"

"I really don't..."

"Chocolate? No, that's so overdone, I really think..."

"KITTY! Shut up, will ya?"

Kitty's eyes widened with surprise. "Thea, geez, I was just asking for your advice. No need to get all...oh shit..." Kitty said as realization dawned on her. She looked at her friend apologetically. "I'm an idiot. I'm so sorry, Thea."

"It's okay, can we just not talk about it?"

"'It' being Valentines Day or your brother?"

"Neither," Thea snapped.

"Okay," Kitty said quickly. "Okay."

There was an awkward silence in which Thea was just pissed. She was pissed at Kitty for actually saying the word 'brother'. Irrationally pissed and Thea knew it. Which only made her more pissed. Kitty should be free to say whatever she wanted, and yet, Thea was just so angry.

"I'm going to take a walk," Thea said, practically leaping off her bed and darting out the door before Kitty could say another word.

She thought she was doing better. Really she did. She had somewhat gotten over Warren's father being the devil-monster and was even in a relationship - a somewhat functional relationship where she just never wanted to meet the in-laws and didn't want to tell Warren why. But still, a somewhat functional one, which is more than she could say for herself last year during this time. Last year she was holed up in the gym all day and night, beating up every punching bag she could, past the time when her knuckles were bleeding into the gloves and her legs felt like lead. So yeah, she considered this an improvement.

She made her way outside into the cold afternoon. Bobby had frozen the fountain solid to create an ice rink once again and she missed the calming sounds the flowing water made. Her cheeks, that had been flushed with anger, were now flushed with cold. She inhaled the icy air deeply until it hurt. She enjoyed the feeling. Perhaps she wasn't doing better - she was still inflicting pain upon herself. And then she hated herself for doing the same sort of thing she did before. To resorting to physical pain to numb the emotional kind. She knew what she was doing - just didn't stop her from doing it all the same. And this time...this instant in her life, she couldn't blame how messed up she was by pointing the finger at Warren's father. This time, that moment, it was all her fault.

"Althea, it's really cold out here," a voice said from behind her.

Thea tensed at the interruption, but eased when she realized it was Warren.

"I know," she said. "It's distracting."

"Well, I can think of lots of things we can do that would be distracting and we'd save our fingers and noses from frostbite at the end of the day," Warren said.

Thea smiled ever so slightly, though her back was to Warren. How could he do that? Just say something - something stupid no less - and make her feel so much better?

"Okay," she said, turning around and letting Warren guide her back into the warm mansion.

* * *

Warren jangled the keys in his pocket nervously as he walked to her room. He had planned this whole night in detail, and he didn't want things to go wrong. He hadn't seen Thea all day, which was a bit odd to him. Considering it was Valentine's Day and all, he had thought they would be engaging in Valentine's Day-like activities, mainly, making out a lot. However, he knew she was feeling a little off lately and perhaps she was avoiding him since she didn't want to bring him down too. 

However, Warren hoped this night would make her feel better. He reached her door and took a quick look at himself. He straightened out his burgundy button-down shirt. It was so hard to get a shirt that fitted his wings not to get too wrinkly. Determining that his appearance was the best it was going to get, he knocked on her door. There was no answer. But he had tracked Kitty down and she, somewhat unwillingly, told him Thea was in her room. She had also said something very strange, "Don't get too angry." Warren didn't know what that meant, but he knew something was just off.

"Thea, I know you're in there. I'm going to open the door," he said before turning the knob and letting himself in. She was curled in fetal position on the bed with her back to him.

"I just really want to sleep," she said in a scratchy voice.

"Are you sick?" Warren asked, coming towards her bed.

"No."

"Thea, tell me what's bothering you," Warren whispered.

"I don't want to talk about it," she said with a tone of finality. Warren hated that tone. It was the put-up-the-walls-block-everyone-out-and-shoot-anyone-who-tries-to-get-inside tone.

He thought about using that certificate she had given him, the one that said she would tell him a secret. But in such a short amount of time things were different. They were together now, and people together shouldn't be forcing secrets out of each other with pieces of paper. The whole concept, though nice before, seemed wrong and violating now. However, it would be nice if she told him freely and Warren would do everything possible to have her open up to him.

"You know that doesn't help," he said, perhaps a bit too paternalistically.

"Neither does you pestering me after I tell you I don't want to talk about something," she snapped back, still not looking at him.

Warren inhaled deeply to try and calm himself down. He was getting angry at Thea and that wouldn't help the situation. "Okay. So, I was thinking," he began, trying to change the subject, "we could take out one of the cars and drive to town. I made a reservation at this little Italian restaurant that got great reviews on the Internet. It's supposed to be cozy and romantic. And then afterwards we could…"

"Warren, that sounds really nice, but I don't want to do anything tonight."

"But it's Valentine's Day."

"I know."

"Why can't we do something together?" Warren asked quietly. He had planned everything, he was going to show her a wonderful romantic evening. And now she wasn't even considering it.

"I hate Valentine's Day."

Warren decided to play dumb. Maybe Thea would tell him what was bothering her then. "Well, okay, it's a little commercialized and…"

"You know that's not what I'm saying. Give me a little more credit," she snapped. She still hadn't even looked at him. Okay, now he was angry. Credit? She didn't deserve any credit.

"How are we supposed to be in this relationship when you won't talk to me?"

"How are we supposed to be in a relationship when you won't stop asking questions?"

"Thea, I care about you. When people care about others, they ask questions to find out what's wrong. Deal with it," he said snidely.

"Look," Thea said, finally sitting up and turning around to face him. Whatever she was going to say fell silent on her lips. Warren could see that she had been crying. Not recently, but her eyes were still puffy and her cheeks still flushed. "You dressed up," Thea said.

"Yeah," Warren said.

"You look nice," she said.

"Thanks."

"My brother died on Valentine's Day," she said abruptly, the words sounding odd as they tumbled from her mouth. Warren was silent for a while, many things running through his head. He waited to see if Thea was going to continue, but she didn't.

"I didn't know you had a brother."

"I never talked about him."

There was a long and awkward silence. Warren's head was racing with this new information. What did he look like? What was he like?

"How did he die?" Warren knew this was a killer question. Thea's eyes were dark.

"It was when I was fourteen. He was ten. Our parents weren't home so I was babysitting. And we were hanging out in the front yard when a neighborhood friend of Jamie's came by with his older brother. I had a crush on the older brother, who was sixteen. Jamie was my brother," Thea explained.

"I figured," Warren said, sitting down on the bed and placing his hand over Thea's.

"Bryan and I, Bryan was the older brother, were talking for a bit while Jamie and Kevin were tossing a football around. All of the sudden Jamie shouts out, "Bryan, my sister loooooves you! I read it in her diary." I was so pissed and embarrassed. I called him an asshole and stormed back into the house. I cranked up my music until I couldn't hear anything else and just screamed. I really liked Bryan, and you know, back then I thought Bryan was "the one" and all that crap. I just laid on my bed being pissed. I didn't hear the car tires screech or everyone calling for me or anything like that. Bryan ran into my house and burst into my room and for a second I thought he was going to tell me he liked me too. But instead, he shouted over the music that Jamie got hit by a car. I ran down the stairs and out the front door and by the time I got to his body, Jamie was dead. He was such a stupid kid for running into the street for that football. But that doesn't matter. I could have saved him. I could have…by that time I knew I could heal, so I could have…if I had gotten there in time. If I had stayed out there like I was supposed or if I hadn't cranked up the music. I think about that a lot. He didn't die instantly, so I could have gotten to him…I could have."

By this time Thea's voice was cracking and getting that phlegmy quality a voice gets just before someone cries. But she didn't start crying again.

He leaned over and hugged her tightly. She stiffened momentarily before sinking into his hug. What could he say? She was clearly upset at her brother's death, but what was even more apparent was how guilty she felt about the entire situation.

Warren wondered how she got from the guilt-ridden teen to the woman she was now. What had her path been? When had she done those six years since Jamie's death?

Long moments passed where the two sat in silence, unable to find more words.

Finally, Warren whispered, "It's easy to always think of the hypotheticals and make yourself feel guilty. God knows I've done it for most of my life. But that's a trap. You heal when you can heal, and that's all you can do."

Thea looked away and blinked hard to get out the water from her eyes. "Sounds so simple," she said angrily. "So fucking easy."

"And it's not," Warren whispered knowingly.

Another long silence passed.

"I want to sleep," Thea said.

"Okay," Warren replied, breaking the hug. He figured that was his cue to leave.

Thea grabbed his arm. "Can you stay with me tonight?"

Warren's head spun. He had never slept over before. "Yeah, yeah, of course. I'm going to change into sweats."

"No, just take off the fancy clothes," Thea said abruptly.

Warren looked at her quizzically. "You mean, just be in boxers?"

Thea smirked, her flirtatious nature returning. "Why not? It is Valentine's Day after all."

Warren blushed, he knew he did.

Thea unbuttoned his shirt and unfastened the snaps by his wings, causing goose bumps to erupt across Warren's chest and back.

She had never undressed him. In their relationship thus far, there just had been a lot of kissing. And sure there was some grinding thrown in as well, but there were always clothes on – much to Warren's chagrin – lots of clothes on. And sure Warren's hands had sometimes found their way under Thea's shirt and as far up to the fabric of Thea's bra, but that's pretty much where they stopped. Warren had somewhat felt like he was in high school again, but at the same time, was unwilling to go further than Thea encouraged.

Looked like she was encouraging now.

"I don't want to have sex," Thea said, breaking Warren out of his thoughts.

Well, so much for that idea.

"That's fine," Warren said. He wasn't about to go as far as to say "Me too!" because that was a downright lie.

"But there's other stuff we can do," Thea suggested as she crossed her arms in the front to lift off her shirt, exposing her plain white bra.

Warren gulped. "Sounds…good," he said.

Thea kissed him passionately. "I think it's time for some new Valentine's Day memories."

* * *

Thea couldn't wipe the grin off her face the next day. She wasn't used to being so happy and glowy. That was _Jube's_ job. But a lifetime of nights with Warren similar to the night before could make Thea permanently happy and glowy and give Jubilee a run for her money. 

Kitty immediately picked up on it. Kitty dragged Thea to her room quickly after breakfast where both Warren and Thea were catching each other's eye and suppressed wide grins.

"What happened last night?" Kitty asked with a smirk on her face.

Thea smiled. "It was nice," she said shyly.

"Ah, c'mon, details! Well, I don't need explicit details but you know, just a little picture," Kitty said.

"We…" Thea made some awkward hand gestures and Kitty's eyes lit up.

"You had sex?" she whispered excitedly.

"No, no," Thea said. "But it was…nice. It was a great night," Thea said. She realized she didn't really want to tell Kitty more. This was something between her and Warren, something private, and hopefully Warren wasn't gossiping with the guys.

"I'm happy for you," Kitty said, understanding that her friend did not want to say more. "You deserve it."

Thea went back to her room and collapsed onto her bed. The pillows still smelled like Warren. Thea was not an experienced lover by any means but she had felt ridiculously sexy and powerful when her hands caused Warren to lose control. His wings had extended to their full glory, inadvertently knocking over and breaking the lamp on the night-stand, but Thea hadn't cared. As she looked up at him, white feathers surrounding the two of them, she had felt…safe. And that was an amazing feeling. Not only did it feel wonderful when Warren reciprocated her attentions, but falling asleep with him did not feel weird or make her feel vulnerable. Quite the opposite in fact.

A little nagging voice in the back of her head warned her not to let him get so close. He was, after all, a Worthington, and when push came to shove, who knew if he would side with her or his father if that situation were to ever come up. Also, the voice reminded her that last night was a form of escapism from her festering guilt over her brother's death. Thea acknowledged that yes, it was escapism, but she liked it and it helped her feel better as any good quality escapism would do. Further, knew there was nothing she needed to face. Rather, she needed to let it go, she knew she needed to forgive herself for her brother's death. However, until that day came, she was okay with using some escapism.

* * *

Author's Note: I'm alive! I'm sorry for the long delay – as you can all imagine – life happens. The second half of 2007 held a lot of changes for me and I didn't have the time to just sit down and write. Getting back into Thea and Warren's heads was also challenging after so long. I actually wrote out this chapter very differently, but then decided I didn't like it. When I finish the story, I'll post "outtakes" – kind of like deleted scenes of movies. ) For those of you who read Against the Grain/With the Tide (LOTR), I'm still STUCK, but I'm trying to work through my writer's block on that and finish the next chapter. Hope you are well and thanks for sticking with me. 


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